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(An dccoant of the Celebration of the 250th 
c/lnni'bersary of the Charter of the Tol^n 



1 65 1 — S ep t em be r 11th— 1901 




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- Including Historical Sketches of Churches, Schools, Old 
Homes, Institutions, Eminent Men, Patriotic 
and Benevolent Work, ^ 

together with ^^,, 

The Record of Soldiers and Sailors enlisted in Norwalk 
from i6~6 to i8g8. 

The Civic Progress in the Last Century and Statistics 

of Commerce and other miscellany of Local interest. 

Published under the auspices of the Norwalk Historical 

and Memorial Library Association. 

C. A. FREEMAN 

Publisher 

South Norwalk, Connecticut 






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Ludlow Monument, 
East Norwalk. 



Digitized by the Internet Arcinive 
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The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/norwalkaftertwoh01weed 




Charles Melbourne Selleck, the son of Henrv Selleck and Mary {Ann 
Selleek (nee Keeler), was born in Norwalk, January 17, 1H31, He wasa pupil 
at four vears of age of Susan Betts' school, Xorwalk and later coatinued 
his education in public and private schools in Connecticut, graduating 
finally at Hall's Academy in Norwalk. He began teaching at Cranbury 
Plains about 184(1 and later taught in the dowm-school in East Norwalk, 
where he was principal for two years. He was induced to go to Troy, N. Y. 
and open a boarding and dav school known as the Selleck School. It was 
located on First Street. Trov, and continued five years. In 1855 he found 
the school quarters too small in Trov and returned to Norwalk, where he 
opened a boj's' school and continued as principal until 1888. During this 
period Trinitv College of Hartford conferred upon him the degree of A. M. 
He was ordained to the Deaconate in 1805 and to the priesthood by Bishop 
Williams in 1809. He served in Norwalk as Dr. Mead's personal assistant 
in St. Paul s parish for fourteen and a half years and in 1879 succeeded to 
the care of the parish. He resigned its rectorship in 1883 but was re-elected 
in 1889. He kept up his school to this time. He agar.i resigned m 1891. 
Since 1884 he has labored under Bishop Potter of New York as Missionary 
in charge of St. John's Church in Lewisboro, Westchester County. He 
continued the work in that place during his second incumbency of the 
Rectorship of St. Paul's. He prepared and delivered an historical address 
for the centenary of St, Pauls in 1886. The interest excited by the wealth 
of materials of "this historical sermon, delivered July 1.5, 1886, led to the 
greater historical work upon which subsequently he was engaged and 
which is known as the Norwalk History, Avhich abounds in interesting 
historical and family records not surpassed by any similar publication in 
this country. 

Rev. Mr. Selleck is the author of many historical papers and addresses. 
He has made Norwalk his twin brother, as it were, and it has been said of 
him that w^hen his last day shall come he will desire no other epitaph or 
eulogy than this — Faithful to God, to mankind and to Norwalk. 

His "personality is known to every citizen. His former pupils scattered 
all over the land from ocean to ocean revere his name and admire his 
sterling qualities. His devotion to the town where he was born is an 
object lesson in patriotism. His assistance in the celebration of Norwalk's 
350th Anniversary was memorable and the compiler of this work can testify- 
to his untiring ze'al and energy in promoting the success of that event. 

May his days be prolonged and his service to Norwalk be alwaj-s 
appreciated. 

S. R. W. 



To the 

^^u» Clt^tUs Melbourne BeUeck 

{Historian of Norwalk) 

whose unselfish labors and fidelity to his birthplace inspired 
and suggested many of the features of the 

of \\y^ 
(£A\&x\^v of tite IS^amn 

September 8th, loth, nth and 12th, 1901 

and to whom 

Its Citizens are under an Everlasting 

Debt of Gratitude 

these pages are affectionately 

AS A Tribute of Friendship and Appreciation 
ON the Part of his Associates and Co-workkrs 

IN DOING honor TO 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Biographical Sketch of Rev. C. M. Selleck i 

Dedication 2 

Preface 7 

Norwalk Historical Society 9 

Historical Sketch of Norwalk 13 

First Day's Celebration 20 

Historical Address by Rev. C. M. Selleck 22 

Discourse by Rev. George D. Egbert 37 

Discourse by Rev. J. McClure Bellows 47 

South Norwalk Congregational Church 49 

Trinity Episcopal Church 54 

South Norwalk Methodist Church 58 

Sketch of St. Mary's (Catholic) 61 

St. Joseph's (Catholic) Church 63 

First Methodist Church 65 

Grace Church of Norwalk 72 

Christ Episcopal of Westport 76 

Memorial of Holy Trinity, Westport 84 

Saugatuck Congregational of Westport 86 

Second Day's Celebration 98 

Franklin School 98 

Over River School 100 

Middle Five Mile River School loi 

East Norwalk School loi 

History of the First School 109 

Centre School 113 

The Public Assembly 114 

Address by Secretary Blanchard 114 

Address by Walter Seth Logan 116 

Evening with Aboriginal Norwalk 118 

The Lesser Ischoda 119 

The Historical Tableaux 120 

Third Day's Celebration 124 

Historical Trolley Ride 124 

Afternoon Exercises — September nth 126 

" The Building of Norwalk." By Rev. A. F. Beard, D. D. 127 
"A Sweet and Hallowed Time." Poem by D. John Gay- 
lord Davenport 146 

Address by Hon. Orville H. Piatt 163 

The Home Gathering 165 

Letter of W. T. Clark, of Memphis, Tenn i65 

Letter of D. James M. Taylor 167 

Up-town and Down-town; by Rev. Paul M. Strayer 168 

Address by Rev. Chas. M. Belden, of Wilton 171 



Address by Hon. Edward H. Knapp, of Bridgeport 172 

Address by Rev. W. J. Slocum i73 

Fourth Day's Celebration I74 

The Mihtary and Civic Parade i74 

Norwalk's Patriotic Record i79 

Names of Norwalk Soldiers in Indian War i79 - 

Graves of Revolutionary Soldiers 180 

Norwalk Men in War of 1812 184 

Graves of U. S. Volunteers, 1861-1865 185 

Names of Norwalk Men in Spanish American War, 1898. . . 193 

Military History of Norwalk 196 

South Norwalk Ladies' Patriotic Society, 1861-65 206 

Norwalk Chapter of the D. A. R 211 

Education in Norwalk in the Nineteenth Century. By A. 

Blanchard 214 

District School Committees: 1854-1901 227 

South Norwalk Union School District 230 

Springwood Union Sunday School 234 

Northwest School 236 

West Norwalk School District 239 

South Five Mile River School 243 

Civic Progress — Commercial Navigation 244 

Commercial Statistics 252 

Banking in Norwalk. By Eben Hill, Esq 254 

St. Paul's Church ' 268 

Other Churches 269 

Advent Christian Church 270 

South Norwalk Baptist Church 271 

Hungarian Reformed Church 273 

Hungarian Congregational Church 273 

First Baptist Church 274 

The Legal Profession of Old Norwalk 280 

Some Old Homes in Norwalk 288 

The Borough of Norwalk 306 

The City of Norwalk 308 

South Norwalk Public Library 312 

Town of Norwalk Vital Statistics 319 

Benevolent Orders — Masonic 320 

Grand Army of the Republic 326 

Woman's Relief Corps 328 

O. S. Ferry Commandery 328 

Norwalk Chapter D. A. R. Objects 328 

Founders and Patriots. Objects 329 

OflBcers of the Historical Society 330 

Central Club 330 

Women's Club 330 

Friday Afternoon Club 331 

4 



The Norwalk Club 331 

South Norwalk Club 332 

Various Clubs and Associations 333-334 

Temperance Organizations 335 

Lodges and Chapters and Commandery's 336-337 

Independent Order of Odd Fellows 338 

Norwalk Hospital Association 340 

Improved Order of Red Men and other societies 341-356 

Norwalk Industries 357 

Presidential Vote 380 

City of South Norwalk 381 

ERRATA, 

The exercises of the school meeting, on the bottom of page 
145, should have been included in the proceedings mentioned on 
page 114. 

On page 212 the name of Rev. S. Parkes Codman should 
read Rev. S. Parkes Cadman. 

Page 280 — The article upon the legal profession should be 
credited to Hon, A, B. Woodward, 





R 



HIS volume has been prepared under 
the nominal direction of the Commit- 
tee on Statistics appointed at a meet- 
ing of the Norwalks Historical and 
ifTifsiss^n y^s^-^vA ^icmorial Library association to pre- 
|k-1^^^^^^^I ' serve in permanent form an account of 
the proceedings and events connected with the 250th an- 
niversary celebration of the charter of the Town of Nor- 
walk. Most of the labor of this compilation has devolved 
upon the Chairman. It is not intended as a work of preem- 
inent literary merit. Whatever merit there is in it belongs 
v/holly and solely to those who have contributed to its 
pages. Their names will be found appended to their 
several sermons, sketches, articles, descriptive papers or 
otherwise. It is not for a moment supposed that it is free 
from errors, or that it is not lacking in reference to sev- 
eral interesting local topics which might have been ap- 
propriately, exhaustively and profitably included. No 
apology is offered for such omissions. The most persis- 
tent efforts to obtain additional papers on such themes, 
as are Oimitted, from some of our most gifted townsmen 
failed to secure their co-operation. Apparently their nat- 
ural modesty, so common to the Norwalks, prevented 
their names from appearing in this volume. This may 
be and indeed is, a matter of profound regret but it re- 
flects a higher degree of credit upon those who accepted 
the invitation to contribute to these pages. Future gen- 
erations will bless the contributers for the descriptive 
and historical stories told by each of them. 

The accounts of the celebration are mainly copied 
from the local newspapers and it is to the credit of the 
Norwalk Hour and the Evening Sentinel of South Nor- 
walk that their work was done so creditably that it 
needed but slight emendation. The compiler expresses 
his obligations to them for completeness of their stories. 
Thanks are also due to Miss Angeline Scott of South 



Norwalk for her industrious researches and painstaking 
efforts to discover, utilize and formulate all sources of in- 
formation bearing upon the various parts of the book. 
Thanks are given also to all who have assisted in the 
preparation of the work, as authors and advisers. 

It is evident that the material gathered by the author 
of the "Norwalk" history has been extensively used that 
a word of praise should be accorded to the historian. 

The delay in this publication is due to several 
causes — principally to the difficulty of gathering the 
material for the various chapters. Only those who 
have passed through the ordeal of such a compilation 
can understand the trials that have come to the com- 
piler in the preparation of this volume. Only a small 
portion of the material offered for the work has been 
rejected. It has been thought wise to issue the pub- 
lication without waiting for those who at this late 
day are in default in their promised contributions. 

The compiler is responsible for the order of arrange- 
ment. For his errors of judgment he solicits the 
public's kind indulgence. 

SAMUEL RICHARDS WEED, 

Chairman of the Committee on Statistics. 
Norwalk, July, 1902. 



THE NORWALKS' HISTORICAL AND 
MEMORIAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 



HE 250th anniversary celebration of the 
town of Noi-walk owed its origin to the 
action of the Norwalks' Historical and 
Memorial Library Association. The 
plan and scope of the celebra- 
tion were worked out by a commit- 
tee appointed nearly one year before 
the celebration itself. Indeed the 

Association voted to hold a public celebration of the 

founding of Norwalk, at one of its earliest meetings 

in 1899. 

This association was organized October 5th, 1898, 

in pursuance of a call for a public meeting signed by the 

following citizens: 





I^T 


W\ 


^^^^1 


^ 



Henry I. Hoyt, 

F. St. John Lockwood, 

C. M. Selleck, 

Thos. K. Noble,, 

A. B. Woodward, 

Maria P. James, 

E. J. Hill, 

Russell Frost, 

Robt. Van Buren, 



C. A, Quintard, 

E. Hill, 

John H. Ferris, 
Samuel R. Weed, 
Edward Beard, 
Frank A. Ferris, 
J. G. Gregory, 
J. R. Marvin. 
Nellie S. Weed. 



The association at its first meeting elected the fol- 
lowing officers: 

President — F. St. John Lockwood. 
Vice President — Frank A. Ferris. 
Secretary — Samuel Richards Weed. 
Treasurer — John P. Treadwell. 

The number of members enrolled rapidly increased 
and by the date of the celebration the membership was 
nearly one hundred, of whom a large per centage were 
Life members. Rev. R. S. Storrs, Rev. Dr. A. J. F. 
Behrens, (both since deceased) Robert D. Benedict, Esq., 
and Chas. J. Hoadley, State Librarian, were made Hon- 
orary members by unanimous vote of the association. 

On May 3d, 1899, the question of celebrating the 



25otli anniversary was referred to a committee. On Oc- 
tober 4th, a report of the committee was presented out- 
lining a plan and a written request was also presented, 
signed bv the Selectmen, that this association take the 
initiative in the proposed celebration. A larger com- 
mittee was appointed to prepare further details, who re- 
ported on November 8, 1890. a program for the several 
days. This report contained several recommendations 
which found their proper place in the final program. On 
December 12th. 1900, the committee reported a plan 
for a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the found- 
ing of Norwalk on September 11, 1901, and providing for 
the appointment of special committees composed of citi- 
zens of the Town of Norvi'alk and of members of the 
association to carry into eflfect the details of the plan. 
This report was adopted and the co-operation of the 
Selectmen invited in accordance with their official request 
of October 4th, 1899. The plan was communicated to 
the Selectmen and at a public meeting it was voted to 
appropriate $2,500 to aid in the proposed celebration. 
On January 9, 1901, the committees were appointed to 
take charge of the celebration as follows: 

Executive Committee — A. B. Woodward, Chair- 
man. 

Finance Committee — E. O. Keeler, Chairman. 

Invitation Committee — C. M. Selleck, Chairman. 

Literary Exercises Committee — Rev. C. M. Shelton, 
Chairman. 

Statistics Committee — Samuel Richards Weed, 
Chairman. 

Parade Committee — Gen. Russell Frost, Chairman. 

Program Committee — Samuel Richards Weed, 
Chairman. 

Subsequently in the organization of these commit- 
tees some changes were made in the chairmanships and 
as the work progressed a large number of committees 
were appointed to sub-divide the labor. Great credit is 
due to all the committees who labored faithfully to carry 
out their several duties. The record of the celebration 
aad its brilliant success in ever}^ detail of the program 
furnish the strongest tribute to their untiring zeal and 
labor. Their work was done faithfully and for the honor 
of our town. 

The Norwalks' Historical and Memorial Library 
10 



Association became an incorporated society by an act 
of the Legislature approved May 2d, 1899. 

Its meetings are held on the second Wednesday of 
March, June, September and December. Its oiificers are 
the same as are above given with the exception that John 
H. Ferris is now Vice President, in place of Frank A. 
Ferris, who declined a re-election. The association is 
already the possessor of many valuable historic relics, 
and its object is to acquire and preserve such memorials 
of the Colonial and Revolutionary history and of later 
periods as should by right remain in- Norwalk. By 
hearty co-operation in these objects a collection may be 
secured which will be invaluable to posterity, and it is not 
regarded as a vissionary project that the association may 
some day own its own building and have suitable rooms 
for the display of its historic treasures. 



BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE 
OF CONNECTICUT. 

Incorporating the Norwalk Historical and Memorial 
Library Association. 

Resolved by this Assembly: 
Section i. That F. St. John Lockwood, Frank A. Fer- 
ris, Charles M. Selleck, Thomas K. Noble, Nellie S. 
'Weed, Robert Van Euren, Samuel Richards Weed, Asa 
B. Woodward, Russell Frost, James G. Gregory, John 
P. Treadwell and Chas. A. Quintard and all other present 
members of the Norwalk Historical and Memorial Liter- 
ary Association, a voluntary association, now existing in 
the town of Norwalk, and such other persons, as may be 
associated with them, are hereby constituted a body po- 
litic and corporate by the same name for the purpose of 
promoting and encouraging Historical and Geneological 
research in said town and for the further purpose of pro- 
moting useful knowledge in said town and its vicinity. 
Section 2. Said corporation may purchase, receive, hold, 
sell and convey real and personal estate for the purposes 
of its organization, which property while owned by it and 
used for or contributing to the promotion of said purpose 
shall be free from taxation, except such part of its real 
estate as may be leased or rented for other purposes. 
Section 3. Said corporation may make and carry into 



effect such by-laws, rules and regulations not inconsistent 
with the laws of the State, concerning the number of its 
members, the manner in which they shall be chosen, the 
care and management of its property and affairs and 
generally for the promotion of its objects, as shall from 
time to time be deemed necessary or proper. 
Approved May 2, 1899. 
A true copy. 

HUBER CLARK, 

Secretary of State. 




12 



INTRODUCTORY 




HISTORICAL SKETCH OF NORWALK. 

LARGE portion of the territory which 
constitutes the present town of Nor- 
walk was the purchase from the Abori- 
gines, in 1640, by Roger Ludlow, a 
New England immigrant, in 1630, 
from old England. Mr. Ludlow's 
purchase (February 26th, 1640) em- 
braced the Norwalk lands lying- 
east of Norwalk or Norwalk River and on the twen- 
tieth day of the following April, Daniel Patrick a fellow 
passenger with Ludlow to America and a Ludlow fellow, 
Pequot lighter in New England, bought from the In- 
dians, that portion of the town of Norwalk which now 
lies west of the Norwalk river, the northern limit of both 
purchases being a point some twelve miles north from 
''the Sea." (Long Island Sound). 

Ten years intervened between the Indian sale and 
the English settlement of the town. Daniel Patrick met, 
during this period, with a violent death but Mr. Ludlow 
maintained, all this while, a residence in Fairfield, de- 
signing, it would appear, that Norwalk should be the ul- 
timate home of his two sons for whose use he reserved, in 
his agreement with the settlers, in 1650, two^ of the most 
available residence lots in the plantation. 

That Mr. Ludlow's purchase and subsequent sale of 
Norwalk was something more than a mere commercial 

[The accompanying testimony under the date of June 15, 1687, is 
worthy of preservation 

"I Thomas Fitch of Norwalke, doe testify that about the yeare 1650, 
1 heard Mr. Ludlow formerly of Fairfield, say that Norwalke had 
libertie from the Court with Fairfield Deputies consent, to purchase 
a tract of land lying npon the east side of Soaketuck River and that 
against Compoe Rocks," etc.] 

transaction seems supposable from the tenor of his 1650 
"agreement" proper with the on-coming planters. He 
himself appears to have affixed Sundry "conditions," one 
of which in conformity, perhaps, to a Colonial regulation 
of his own framing, ran that some thirty families at least 
must constitute the settling community, that these must 
be "approved" and that an "orthodox" minister must be 

13 



placed over them, in which connection it is interesting 
to note that the first Norwalk minister's wife was the 
daughter of Mr. Ludlow's New England partner and 
Windsor neighbor and close friend. 

It is a tradition that the earliest Norwalk comers, 
led by the surveyors, Richard Olmsted and Richard 
Webb, cut their way through the forests lying| between 
Hartford and Norwalk and fording the Saugatuck some 
two miles from its mouth arrived ( first at the "Rocks" 
from whence after a brief tarry they wended in a souther- 
ly direction and finally established themselves in what is 
now known as East Norwalk building, it is believed, 
their '"companie house" close by the ancient "Fairfield 
Path" which is in 1901 denominated "Fort Point Street." 
The street called to-day East Avenue was Norwalk's 
primus path. Along it the settlers built their first dwell- 
ings and the original proprietors limited their growth on 
this path or street to the upper end of "Goodman Hoyt's" 
or "Meeting House" hill. This was the extreme north- 
ern boundry of the original settlement which, however, 
soon transcended this boundary and extended quite to 
the northward, reaching in 1664, the "Whitney Mill" at 
the foot of the "Mill Hill" of the current year. 

Ludlow's purchase of Norwalk was at about the date 
of the distinguished man's removal from Windsor to 
Fairfield This occurred, it is probable, some time in 
1639, and within the next year Norwalk was his owner- 
ship. During the ten years purchase and settlement in- 
terim Ludlow was busied with court and other matters, 
but did not, it would seem, entirely forget his possession 
en the hither side of the Sasco. The pioneer settlers ar- 
rived during 1650-51, and on Septemper 11, 165 1, their 
new home was "ordered to be a towns." Empowered 
now "to sue" and eligible to "be sued," the little "com- 
panie" entered upon the sea of corporate existence. 
Proper officials were chosen and in 1652 their first minis- 
ter. Rev. Thomas Hanford, was called. This well fur- 
nished man here remained and ministered for somewhat 
over fifty years. The town gradually grew in population 
and its settlement limits gradually spread. "Parish" off- 
shoots — Wilton, Canaan, Saugatuck — anon sprang from 
the parent stock and the towns "centre" was transferred 
from its cradle (East Norwalk) to "the point of the 
rocks, " afterward many years known as "The Bridge," 
now Norwalk proper. The enterprising and expanding 
city of the South Norwalk of 1901 bore, for a long period 



14 



the name of "Old Well," the settlers designation of the 
same territory being "Over the River." Besides the 
Norwalk and South Norwalk of the present century East 
Norwalk has grown to comprise a large and important 
constituency, and West Norwalk, Broad River, Silver 
Mine, Winnipauke and Cranbury are flourishing sec- 
tions and districts, the interest-history of which places 
is elsewhere in this work presented. 

The English history of Norwalk opens with the pur- 
chase of the place from the Indians, in 1640, by Roger 
Ludlow. The territory, however, was not English — oc- 
cupied until ten years afterward, during which decade- 
interim its owner resided in Fairfield and was busied in 
public matters. Depredations by the red men to the 
west of his Fairfield home caused concern on Ludlow's 
part and nothing was done in the direction of peopling 
his purchase until 1650. It appears to have been the 
Ludlow design to start, for political or prudential rea- 
sons, a settlement between "the plantacon beyond" 
(Stamford) and his own new found home in Fairfield. A 
wilderness zone of nearly twenty miles breadth separated 
the two places, portions of which zone, nevertheless, were 
fertile and its average twelve miles longitude coursed by, 
at that day, three fine streams, viz., the Saugatuck, Nor- 
walke and Rowalton rivers. Ludlow was keen sighted 
and far seeing and as there was a somewhat disturbed 
condition of things in the recently New Haven planted 
colony at Stamford and as the "Lords Waste" between 
Stamford and Fairfield would constitute a constant In- 
dian menace to the projected enterprise which had the 
latter place for its center the rival Hartford proprietor 
seems determined, (not that he coveted the uninviting 
area but for policy or protections sakes,) to prepare the 
way for the eventual establishment of another plantation 
midway twixt Fairfield and Stamford. The careful stu- 
dent of that period and of that personage can hardly fail 
to be impressed with the story of the time and of the man 
in question. Ludlow first knew of this portion of the 
colony through his own and Daniel Patrick's fellow sol- 
dierlife hereat. The two were old acquaintances and 
brother Indian fighters and had together pursued the foe 
as far west as Sasqua (Southport), and when, two years 
later, the Hartford court commissioned the former to 
establish a colony at Pequonnock (Bridgeport) it was 
natural for him, upon reaching the spot and finding in- 
sufficient or inferior cattle accommodations to move a 



15 



little on to the highly pleasing and productive levels of 
the Uncowa (Fairfield) of his twenty or so months before 
administration and love. It is lawful to presume that 
even now the sagacious Ludlow had Norwalk in mind. 
In the spring of 1639 his stone residence at Windsor was 
"drowned deep" (Connecticut River freshet) and in that 
same fall he removed to Fairfield and only the next Feb- 
ruary purchased a part of Norwalk which act was suc- 
ceeded, a few weeks after, by the acquirement of the other 
half of Norwalk by his companion, Patrick. That Lud- 
low was somewhat familiar, in 1640, with Norwalk geo- 
graphy is surmised from that years deed described boun- 
daries and that his interest in the spot was continuous 
may reasonably be inferred from his purchase (ten years 
after the 1640 transaction and a few months prior to his 
Norwalk covenant in 1650) of Salem (Lewisboro, N. Y.) 
which added acquisition, he included in his generous 
"make over" to the Norwalk company, under date of 
June 19, 1650, an instrument which admits of nothing of 
a gain-greedy but only a comity and friendly interpreta- 
tion. Mr. Ludlow was, beyond doubt, ambitious. This 
is about the only charge which could be brought against 
him. He had been reprimanded for transcending on 
some occasions, his authority, but when the circum- 
stances of such "exceeding of authority" on his part are 
critically exam.ined we do not wonder that the distant 
court itself reversed its reprimand. At all events 
it is contrary to all sense to suppose that the well 
situated Ludlow could have hungered and thirsted 
for the mere gain or glory of the ownership 
of the savage infested tract, which skirted, both 
sides, the Saugatuck and Norwalk river banks. The 
case does not reasonably admit of a doubt that Ludlow's 
primeal object in buying Norwalk was part of a digested 
plan and that he had patiently watched and waited for 
Norwalks peopling hour to arrive. The very covenant 
conditions he imposed upon the new company, several 
of whom were his personal acquaintances, the reserva- 
tion of the best lot in the whole acreage for the use of his 
two sons, and the care the godly man would have the 
planters exercise in the choice of their first minister 
(whose wife was the daughter of his business partner and 
neighbor and intimate old and new world friend) em- 
phasizes the claim that is made for the distinguished 
jurist to wit that he was the designer, beginner, origina- 
tor and consequently honored founder of this town. 



Norwalk gradually outgrew its primitive limitations. 
The "towns streete" was northward surveyed and worked 
until Whitney's Mill (foot of Mill Hill of 1901) was 
reached. Diverging from that "streete" at a point (pres- 
ent Morgan avenue) two paths conducted, one to "Cran- 
berry plains" and the other (Fance street) to the Rocks. 
The settlers found, upon their arrival, two "ways" already 
worked and more or less trodden. The first was the 
Fairfield and Stamford path and the second, "Ponasses 
path, conducted to what is now known as New Canaan. 
Land was taken up along these difiFerent routes while 
"over the river" (South Norwalk) was by degrees tilled 
and tenanted. The original "common pasture" embrac- 
ed the area now covered by the Benedict Farm, Pine 
Hill, 'Gregory' point, Marvin Bros, and Langdon proper- 
ties, and for a period English and Indian shared its pos- 
session. "Saugatuck playne" was a choice strip of ara- 
ble soil and "long lots" were anon laid out across the 
Saugatuck river. The maiden sixty or seventy years 
Norwalk life saw Saugatuck (Westport) opened, Rowai 
ton (Five Mile) tenanted, Canaan parish well under way, 
Wilton well settled, Danbury formed and Ridgefield pro- 
jected. These places, all have grown and from that day 
been in the ascendant. Their pioneers were, as a class, 
hardy and honest and religious and lovers of freedom. 
They did good foundation work and laid, strongly so, the 
corner stone of their children's progress and prosperity. 
These children are widely scattered and their mother 
can point wnth pride to what, not a few of them, have 
accomplished. 

The town of Norwalk is now two hundred and fifty 
years old and at this notable age epoch embraces the two 
municipalities of Norwalk and South Norwalk and the 
fast growing section known as East Norwalk, also the 
West Norwalk, Broad River, Silver Mine, Winnipauk 
and Cranbury districts, numbering m all about twenty 
thousand souls. There are neat and several pretentious 
churches and chapels all over the Norwalks and the 
towns public and private schools show good results and 
stand high in the estimation of an appreciative commun- 
ity. The board of school visitors is a competent body, 
the influence of which is a determinate quantity in the 
weal of the institutions under its management. Theol- 
ogy, law and medicine have and have had able represen- 
tatives in Norwalk. Letters have here a field and culture 
has here a province and two skillfully and successfully 

17 



superintended libraries attest to the gaining power of 
literature and inspire the hope that it may here hold 
court gradually become a general characteristic of the 
community. 

The city of Norwalk comprises the towns centre. 
Here is the seat of artizanistic enterprise, of a considera- 
ble number of mercantile houses of greater or less 
strength, of three banks of deposits and discount and two 
savings institutions, of msurance, financial, benevolent 
and other local interest ofhces, lodges, etc., and the site 
of many homes of the descendants of the first settlers. 

The city of South Norwalk covers the lower portion 
of the old township and is a commendable and exception- 
al example of the true spirit of progress. Its large bank- 
ing houses and business capital, its commodious ofihces, 
fine hotels and stores, its iron and lock works and nu- 
merous important factories and "yards" and its wide 
awake people are features which distinguish the south- 
ernmost of the twin Norwalk cities. 

East Norwalk, the town's cradle, is fast on the way 
to become what the fathers' original scheme probably 
contemplated to make of it, a town centre. Its develop- 
ment is surprising and its future rank in the Norwalks it 
is not difficult to forcast. 

Winnipauk depends, largely, upon wool and cotton 
mill interests. Silver Mine, Broad River, West Nor- 
walk and Cranbury are, to a greater or less extent, farm- 
ing districts and Rowayton is the seat of a prosperous 
sea and shell fish business. 

Norwalk is an "antiquated" but quite the opposite 
of a "reducedly" antiquated New England town. Its 
hills are commanding view points, its lesser heights 
splendid building eminences and its levels and valleys 
form charming home seats. Its market centres are 
feasibly located, its industry plants well placed and its 
residential quarters conveniently and delightfully sit- 
uated. The town is accessible, there being convenient 
water ways and rail communication with New York al- 
most every hour of the working day and with Boston 
several times every twenty-four hours. Tramway service 
is very perfect, gas and electricity are illuminating 
agents, the postal telegraphic and telephonic facilities are 
perhaps all that could be wished and the press is very in- 
telligently and energetically supervised. There is public 
water, and an efficient police, and excellent sewerage and a 
complete fire system, and good roads and finescenery and 



18 



a pure atmosphere and a rich history. Nature has dealt 
generously by the town and God has blest the ancient 
patrimony. Under the shadow of the Divine Wing two 
and one half centuries have now been passed and beneath 
the same hovering may every present and future son and 
(laughter of the fond old inheritance securely and happily 
dwell until shall cease the flux of human years and the 
flow of human g-enerations. C. M. S. 




19 




FIRST DAY, SEPTEMBER EIGHTH 

[HE quarter-niillenial celebration of the 
founding" of the town, was officially 
opened at the meeting house of "ye 
Prime Ancient Society," on the Green, 
Sunday, September Eighth. 

This church, whose history is con- 
temporaneous with that of the 
town, was handsomely decorated 
for the occasion. The front was gay with 
national flags and bunting and the streamers in the cen- 
ter reached far over the main entrance. Inside the tri- 
color with the stars adorned every pillor and extended 
from seats to gallery. Intermingled were rosettes of 
red, white and blue. The organ was also touched up 
with the tri-color. 

From far and near the people came as the hour of 
service approached. It was a union service in truth. 
In addition to the home people there were many faces 
present from the daughter towns of Westport, New Ca- 
naan and Wilton, and they vied with the mother resi- 
dents in rendering tribute to the anniversary. 

While the celebration was not ofhcially commenced 
until the afternoon, yet it in reality opened at the morn- 
ing services in all the churches, where fitting references 
were made to the anniversary. 

Norwalk Chapter, D. A. R., were prominent in front 
pews, wearing the badges of the order. Seats were also 
reserved for members of the executive committee. 

Promptly at 3 o'clock Edward J. Sims appeared at 
the big organ and gave an excellent rendition ol the 
Finale of the Fourth Sonata by Guilmant. 

Then followed the chorus, "O God, Beneath Thy 
Guilding Hand," under the direction of Prof. Alexander 
S. Gibson, w^ho had charge of the music of the day. 

Rev. George Drew Egbert, pastor of the church, 
then gave the invocation, which was followed by Buck's 
Festival Te Deum in E flat. 

Rev. Mr. Egbert then led in the responsive read 
mg from Psalm 107: "O give thanks unto the Lord, for 
He is good ; for His mercy endureth forever." 

This was followed by the Gloria Patri, by Greatorex, 
and then came Hymn 658, "Thou by heavenly hosts 
adored." 

so 



Rev. Mr. Egbert led in prayer, which was one of 
thankfuhiess. Reference was made in it to the shadow 
that had fallen upon the nation, and a supplication for 
President McKinley's recovery, as follows: 

Lift up your heads, Oh ye gates, and be ye lifted up 
ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come 
in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, 
He is the King of Glory. 

Oh, Lord God, Almighty, we adore Thee, before 
Whom angels veil their faces and archangels are silent. 
Thou art the God of battles, presiding in majesty over 
the destinies of nations that strive together for mastery. 
Thou art the God of Peace, bending in benediction over 
clasped hands and hearts that beat in harmony. Thou 
didst set the stars in motion around the central sun, find- 
ing high praise in the rythmic music of their circling. 
Thou didst look with love, when in obedience to thy bid- 
ding, the flowers of the field first nodded to greet the sun- 
beam. Thy providence is mysterious in its distances, 
yet the smallest of thy creatures know Thy tender touch. 
Thine Almightiness alike "wings an angel and guides a 
sparrow.'' , 

Because Thou art great we adore Thee. Because 
Thou art good we love Thee. We rehearse with ring- 
ing voices Thy kindness shown through the years, as 
they have lengthened into centuries; a kindness that has 
been told to Thy children in mighty forests for their 
building,' splendid fields for their tilling, copious showers 
for their refreshment and glowing sunlight for their joy. 
Finer fruits have been ours than grapes of Eschol, finer 
landscapes than the glowing pictures unveiled from 
Pisgah. Thy kindness has been told, too, in large de- 
liverances from savagery, noble conquests for freedom, 
and the final culmination in a government of the people, 
by the people, and for the people. 

For the storied past we are grateful, for the pro- 
phecy of romance and revelation, we are grateful, and 
may we Jwho stand midvv^ay between the past and the 
future, between sunrise and sunset, take our place in the 
hurr3'ing line of those who find their highest inspiration 
in the love of the Nazarene and make their own the pas- 
sionate prayer, Thy Kingdom Come. 

Remember us just now when a shadow has fallen 
across the flag we love ; may it be the passing cloud that 
hides the sun for but a little, and may the banner under 
which our forefathers clustered once more wave unsha- 



dowed. God spare our President if it be the Divine will ; 
God tenderly cherish the wife of his long devotion; may 
this dire disaster but impress the influence of his noble 
manhood upon the multitudinous people of this great 
nation. In the name of the Great Redeemer, the Tried 
F"riend, Jesus Christ. 

The festival anthem, composed especially for this 
occasion, by Prof. Gibson, was next on the program, and 
was excellently rendered. Mrs. Lillian Sherwood-New- 
kirk sang the soprano solo with much feeling and effect. 

Rev. Charles M. Selieck, Norwalk's able historian, 
then proceded with this memorial address: 

In the name of the everlasting God ; Amen. 

Behold this stone shall be la witness unto you — 
Joshua, Chapter XXIV., portion of verse 27. 

It has been remarked that as its brilliance increases 
as the planet approaches the sun so, at the close oi 
Joshua's career, when mortal life was soon to end in 
glorious immortaliay, his very words seemed intensity- 
invested. 

Now, because the text's syntax, the language, in 
part, of that hero's valedictory, is terse, and pertinent, we 
venure to borrow it as a base to our remarks believing 
that the occasion vindicates the venture. 

"Behold this stone shall be a witness unto you.'" 

This service, inaugurating as it does, the celebration 
of the attainment to a querter-millenial years' age of one 
of the patrimonies of the Western Continent, a patri- 
mony which prior to the imprint of an English foot-form 
in its soil was even then denominated Norwalke, this 
service and the observances to which it introduces wit- 
ness to the intelligence, intrepidity and integrity which, 
under God, contributed to the successful founding of 
tljis cherished settlement of our reverence and affection. 

In a formal greeting to his fatherland Lescarbot 
began thus. "Beautiful eye of the universe, ancient home 
of letters ; recourse of the afflicted ; firm support of re- 
ligion ; very dear mother." 

Lescarbot, who was not apostrophising Norwalk, 
although his words have Non\^alk application, bore felt 
and fervent testimony in relation to his home hearth, 
and no less fervent ought our witness, sons and daugh- 
ters of this ancient plantation now to prove. We are 
commemorating the genesis of one of the most creditable 
organizations and ancestry cradles in the land, and nat- 
ive Norwalk deserves of her offspring, the Abbot, Bar- 



num, Belts, Benedict, Bouton, Campfield, Church, Corn- 
stock, Ely, Fitch, Ferris, Gregory, Hanford, Hayes, 
Holmes, Hoyt, Keeler, Kellogg, Lockwood, Marvin, 
Nash, Olmstead, Piatt, Raymond, Reed, Richards, 
Scribner, Seymom-, St. John and Webb galaxy, deserves 
of her entire offspring that every eye should be animated 
and every heart and hand and home open. 

When we reflect upon the Ludlow "agreement" res- 
pectability ; when we ponder the pioneers' management 
discretion, dividing up labors so evenly and sharing 
minor performances so equally ; keeping" the home cen- 
ter strong and enterprisingly sending out sturdy repre- 
sentatives east, west and north as far as the Oblong ; 
when we remember our Indian and French and Indian, 
and Revolutionary quota, and the loyalty of our men 
back as far as Saybrook days and later at Ticonderoga 
and Crown Point, when we summon up our Revolution- 
ary men, not to mention those of 1812 and of the Civil 
War, our witness, the witness at this time of all Nor- 
walkers should be a royal one, and the thought of the 
possibility of anything less, the thought that we who 
have been nourished lat such a breast and borne upon 
such a bosom and are possessed of such a story could 
pass such a history, at such a time, indifferently by, 
would, it seems to us, be a blow to a manly nature. 

Breathes — slightly changing the diction — 
Breathes there a Norwalk son. 
With soul so dead. 
Who never to himself hath said. 
This is my own, my native town? 

On the contrary, we would fain trust that our 
depth-feeling to-day is voiced in those two lines of 
Browning: 

Open my heart and you will see 
Graven inside of it — Italy. 

Utilitarianism may possibly look askance at this 
and deem it sentiment. Be it so. Sentiment is not al- 
ways ineffective ; it plays a part in this planet's diurnal 
relations. 

Aye. if Capt. Hezekiah Betts's tears, as he is said 
to have sat one uncelebrated Independence Eve long ago 
on his France street stoop and wept because unkindled 
bonfires and unbooming cannon and unreverberating 

23 



bells evidenced, what the aged veteran seemed to inter- 
pret they evidenced, that his comrades's liberty struggles 
had been forgotten; or if a prolonged and persistent 
communication which is preserved in this town, in rela- 
tion to one of Norwalk fatherhood not yet in his teens, 
James Alexander Perry, in recognition of which boy's 
bravery Congress took action ; or if her enthusiasm, the 
wife of the beloved Presbyterian pastor for over fifty 
years of Pound Ridge, N. Y., if Mrs. William Patterson's 
remembrance-warmth of her grandfather, a son of this 
church of which his parent was a deacon, and who was 
very likely baptised from that basin which, filled with 
pure water, the eyes of more than one here gathered 
must have looked upon as it used to stand, so modestly, 
upon the plain communion table which fronted the pul- 
pit pillars in the old church on this Green, if said grand- 
child's memory-zeal for Capt. John Thatcher, who, it is 
claimed, raised and equipped a company at his own ex- 
pense and proceeded with it to Lake Champlain, where he 
commanded the galley Lady Washington and rendered 
such illustrious service, the enemy, even, paying him a 
conspicuous compliment; or if Father Barnum's regard. 
Father Barnum, whose eloquence during a recent pas- 
tor's incumbency made St. Mary's walls on West avenue 
to ring, if Reverend Barnum's lengthened and learned 
letter received in this place and appertaining to his hon- 
ored ancestor, an officer of this society, whose dooryard 
is still well-defined at the foot of Strawberry Hill and 
whose grandsire sleeps abroad beneath a sculptured 
mausoleum of alabaster; if all this rightful and de- 
lightful respect for a worthful past ; if 'all this patriotic 
feeling ; if all this standing up for the dead as Dr. Na- 
thaniel Bouton in 'his historical discourse fifty years ago 
so splendidly stood up for the valiant departed and their 
valor deeds, if all this be sentiment then do we with all 
our might exclaim beneficent, blessed sentiment; and 
would God that bursting all bonds and bounds a flood of 
it might deluge Norwalk, for we believe it would work 
a sort of moral regeneration, and be an uplift in the com- 
munity. 

But let us, delving a little deeper down into this mat- 
ter of witness bearing, consider more precisely the sub- 
jects of our commemmoration, and the subject qualities 
we are recognizing at this interesting epoch. 

A recent writer describes the seventeenth century 
Puritan as one who looked upon one's advantages and 



24 



opportunities as trusts to be invested, and that this 
should have been a characteristic redounds to the re- 
nown of the Norwalk founder constituency which was 
not a band of explorers altogether, but to a noticeable 
extent, of already established colonists whom neither 
necessity nor an adventurous spirit wholly drave or drew 
to a new home, but with whom one spur to the planting 
of the settlement was, it is not illogical to infer, the pub- 
lic interest — appeal addressed them by the great Nor- 
walk idea originator. 

History when thoroughly searched, teaches Canon 
Miley, of Paris, will always conduct to the right path. 
Scan the Ludlowlian Norwalk enactments ; first the pur- 
chase in 1640 and no recorded occupation hint thereof 
until the "agreement," so-called, in 1650. Read be- 
tween the lines of this paper, and answer whether the 
"mind" of the genius whose associates abroad were none 
the less than Vane and Humphrey and Venn, and on 
this side the Atlantic Mason, Maverick, Hooker, Steele 
and Stone, is not apparent. Who but Oliver Crom- 
well's elect and select commissioner; who but the po- 
tent destroyer of the Pequot terrors and Saviour, conse- 
quently of all the New England colonies ; who but the 
pious one who wrote to Pychon "we do stand merely by 
the power of our God"; who but Deputy Governor 
Roger Ludlow may have inspired the "convenient 
speed" clause in the Norwalk compact, and the "ap- 
proved minister" and "thirtie approved families," and 
"obnoxious" party paragraphs in that document. True 
the pioneers pledge back the purchase price, but are we 
sure that the munificent Ludlow required the paltry 
amount at their hands? Are we confident that it was 
not their own sense of propriety that demanded his ac- 
ceptance of the same? The paper of June 19, 1650, will 
stand search-light examination and we opine that pos- 
terity will constitute that day as the date of a Norwalk 
founding act if not the date of the Norwalk founding 
fact. 

We turn to the "considerable company" mentioned 
in that document, reminiscences concerning which are 
instructful. The Norwalk "newcomers" were a sensible, 
serviceable and a forcible purpose folk, purpose 
that led to results ; and they were a positive company ; «t 
company the members of which entertained positive con- 
victions, and held positive opinions, and spake positively. 
Their Hartford pastor once compared a certain kind of 

25 



preaching to a legal citation in which no name appears, 
but the Norwalk members, unlike Mr. Hooker's name- 
less indictment meant and amounted to something. 
People will read you who may not read their Bibles, 
So a young Hartford convert, to whom the words were 
addressed, was taught, and such teaching clinches. A 
tree is known by its fruits and the full effect of old time 
Norwalk stock conscience and conduct fruits can no 
more be calculated than can their effect value be figured 
up — dollars and cents. 

Robert Stuart was a live man. He lived adjoining 
the present home of Dr. Augustus F. Beard, but he was 
one of the founders of "The Village," so styled, below 
Old Well, where he had a wharf and where he kept an 
eye open for traffic. Besides this, lands were called after 
his own name which demanded care. But he was also 
a "Lord's Witness," one of his maxim's reading, "They 
who are in the Lord are happy indeed." His stalwart 
faith, ineradicable perchance from his Scotch blood stout- 
ly told and the Yale tutor and Andover profound scholar, 
Dr. Moses Stuart, dates back to him for heredity, as did 
also the later recalled Matthias Hubbell, whose gray hairs 
were a crown of glory, as were the same to his constant 
and ever commendable contemporary in this house of 
God, Evart Quintard. 

Bouton Hoyt had been taught that it was a sin to 
break the Sabbath and Freelove Wright a duty to go 
to church on that day, and therefore when the sun went 
down on Saturday night the water was shut off the Five- 
Mile River raceway and everything was still at the Hoyt 
mill until Monday, and when Sunday morning came the 
wagon stood before the Wright home which, ere it start- 
ed upon its dozen miles' trip over Long Island sands, 
was filled. Now to stand at Bouton Hoyt's headstone 
and thereat retrospect concerning the rigorous restrain- 
ful training in his own case and that of his next 
door neighbor, Daniel Weed, how it developed 
strengthful men and prayerful women and con- 
tributed through these to the world's betterment, 
sending out representatives, from the one fam- 
ily, to mould hearthstone excellence at home and run 
excellent careers in India, and from the other household 
the brilliant William B. Weed to shepherd this church 
and his brother, John R., to serve this community, or to 
muse before Deniss Wright's door first in Loyd's Neck 
and after in Saugatuck how that the habit of his 

26 



daughter was the leaven hid in the meat, one of the 
workings of which helped raise up such God strivers and 
lifelong serviceful ones as were her grand-children Han- 
nah Morgan and Andrew and Edward Nash ; to ponder 
such faith-inflexibility products, is to be convinced of the 
worth of this old town's old-time discipline. 

A lad who by a deed recorded to have been per- 
formed on one of our ancient streets, thereby evidenced 
that he had been a sturdily brought up Lockwood, grew 
to himself have a son who had been so stamana reared 
as that while a college student Peter Lockwood still 
made time to further occupy, as the master expressed it, 
one of the fruits being the conversion of the Old Well 
youth who afterward so idolizedly ministered, for fifty 
odd years, in Concord, New Hampshire. 

We read that Aristole was conscientiously opposed 
to putting out money at interest, the proof, if so, of high 
moral preponderance; not higher, however, than was 
the strict principle of our "pound for pound" progenitors 
who may not have lived and died millionaires, but who 
really lived and died richer than millionaires, and the 
character and candor wholeness of whom was the out- 
come of their righteous raising, which was strict, stern 
and by way of contrast severe indeed, but it is one of 
the recommendations of early New England family 
bringing up that it had a strong viking vein running 
through it, which vital tide was fructifying as nothing 
of a modern diluted sort ever, it is to be feared, can be. 

We repeat, the Norwalk planters hither came duly 
bent. Among them were, undeniably, some, several, of 
means and mind moderation. They were yeoman rather 
than, conventionally speaking, noblemen, nevertheless 
Matthew Marvin left a well-appointed home on Village 
street, Hartford, to come to Norwalk; and Nathaniel 
Richards a desirable residence in Cambridge where he 
had for neighbors New England elect and elite; and 
Thomas Fitch was opulent and well, otherwise, endowed. 
These men were not dissatisfied with the civil adminis- 
tration of affairs at the Colony's crib, neither did they 
sit uneasy under Thomas Hooker's ecclesiastical ruling, 
and certainly they did not come to Norwalk with power 
on the brain, nor to acquire great possessions. It was 
beyond doubt a sacrifice on the part of at least a portion 
of the party to surrender the growing comfort which 
Richard Webb, Richard Olmstead and Richard Seymour 
were indulging under the satisfactory shaping of things 

27 



at the capital, and to come to the Mahackemo wilds to 
struggle against rocks and in swamps and where life was 
far from being a bed of roses to them. These men sought 
an end and this brought them hither. The presumable 
Ludlow argument that the Lord's waste between Stam- 
ford and Fairfield afforded Dutch and Indian manoeu- 
vering and marauding protection which English occupa- 
tion would prevent, or that this wilderness tract offered 
another plantation site the tenantcy of which would be 
a further plea in the colonies' favor with Matthew Crad- 
ock and such other magnates as he at the govern- 
ment seat across the sea appealed, most probably to their 
sense of responibility to which they praiseworthily re- 
sponded. , 

The character of our Norwalk fathers, and it was 
men of their identical brand who laid New England's 
stable foundations and made America, men of convic- 
tions which they were not given to recant and men who 
met the truth face to face, will bear investigation. They 
were a plain-mannered folk and they lived in a day of 
plain measures. There was no call among them for 
great military daring any more than there was for gigan- 
tic financial risking, nevertheless the spirit of the Nor- 
walk veteran who in public assembly, and opposed to a 
man by the other voters of that assembly, unflinchingly 
— Athanasius against the world — maintaining his 
ground, declaring if I am wrong in the matter before us 
I ought to stand alone, but if right I can afford so to 
do, the spirit, we repeat, of this father was every inch 
as brave as was that of the Duke of Bohemia who pro- 
nounced "this bridge shall be my way to Antwerp or it 
shall be my sepulchre," or that of the dashing stock op- 
erator who flew up the steps of the exchange flinging 
ringingly behind him "I'll reach the millions column or 
die in the attempt." 

The avowed principle and veracity of our sires, who, 
if frugal, were fair, and if not always as liberal as they 
might have wished, yet were just and so, if they could 
not divide up their previously Indian cleared land into 
forty acres apiece yet squarely made it four acres all 
around; their principle constancy, their impartiality, 
protecting all along their extended water front the red 
man's canoe as well as the pale face's shallop anchor- 
age; no man, the decree ran, be he English or Indian, 
shall disturb another's bark; their championship of 
right, their keen apprehension of their obligations ; their 



zealous impulses, for John Gregory, John Rusco, John 
Bouton, Thomas Betts, Christopher Comstock and such 
like, were no fossil treasures, but men of diligence, en- 
ergy and fortitude; these as well as their unswerving 
faith, and genuine piety, and appreciation of education, 
and their patriotism and love of freedom gave them a 
title to respectability, proved them capable of larger 
undertakings and are a memory which not alone con- 
stitutes their children's glory, but is, as another says, cal- 
culated to help build up those children to the same grand 
level of honor and honesty. 

A stone dedicated to a predecessor of one of these 
foreparents is thus inscribed: God sifted a nation in 
order that choice grain might be sent to the wilderness, 
and the seed in God's providence delivered in our Nor- 
walk field-and-forest-embracings was fine. 

Thomas Hanford, pastor primus of the town, was a 
scholar who fed his flock with the manna of the morn- 
ing. A strong mind has such a strong grasp that it is 
possible for it of a titan to make a peak. The Hanford 
family was a power. The head of it had been college- 
prepared by a master from the Westminster school near 
the Parliament House, and was so singularly and sus- 
ceptibly endowed that even the savage Winnipauke from 
his twelve miles distant weird and "wild cat" wigwam 
was apparently led, as a child, by his hand. He was 
called when young to the new settlement and his life 
was spent in adherence to convincings which philosophy 
then was, and which the whole fraternity of philosophers 
now would probably have been, utterly powerless to sup- 
plant. 

Of the first Mrs. Hanford's family it is told the town 
came to one of its members to learn what should be 
done and of the mother of the family that she was a fore- 
parent who moved the world. This woman, who died 
in a comer house the grass around which home grows in 
its original plot in East Norwalk to this hour, married 
the titled grandson of Ware, the historian of Ireland, 
and so influential were her precepts and potent her pat- 
tern that down to our own day and here on one of our 
streets, one of her blood who chanced, a stranger in the 
town, to tramway pass one of God's Norwalk creations, 
involuntarily, with clasped hands remarked its presence. 
That crystal stream was to its accidental beholders inher- 
ited intuitions a stream which rose in Heaven. Time 
may dim and change impair, but it is impossible to 

w 



wholly eradicate such effective tuition as was imparted 
by the first minister of this place and his family. 

His argument in defense of the constitution of the 
United States, a bit of bulwark-reasoning, won for Dan- 
iel Webster deathless terrestrial fame, and had John 
Warham, Jonathan Edwards or Thomas Hanford sub- 
stituted for their masculine presentation of God's immu- 
table verities our many wheel-and-pulley parish appli- 
ances these giants would, in all presumability, • from 
thence have dated their downfall. That the flock of one 
of such signal mentality and spirituality as Thomas Han- 
ford should have been benefitted and elevated is plain 
enough to understand and was simply inevitable. 

And here let us enter Norwalk's maiden meeting 
house, finished in not even shell plastered walls, pos- 
sibly, and prudently provided with but a single window 
and that on the side opposite the swamp from which the 
Indians were wont to dart their arrows, and study the 
composition of the flock referred to, a flock which believed 
a whole Bible and was accustomed to perpendicular 
preaching and concerned itself with no theory of "inter- 
pretation" further than the courageful one that enabled 
them to read "Jehovah Shammah" wherever they offered 
a prayer or sung a hymn, or lent an ear to the teaching 
of the word. 

Here we find Thomas Fitch and Ann his wife of 
family beyond the ocean of culture and competence. 
Roger Ludlow himself registered Thomas Fitch as the 
wealthiest man in the town. Mr. Fitch's father died 
some years before, having will-named as his loving 
friends Thomas Hooker and the subsequent founder of 
Harvard College. 

Matthew and Alice Marvin have seats in that ancient 
building, and while Mr. Marvin complied with the con- 
tingency that demanded the performance of a practical 
branch of industry from him still the court took care to 
commit the local administration of justice to his com- 
petent self. 

John Gregory, son of Henry of Boston — there wor- 
shipped, while near to him prayed his sister, Mrs. 
Richard Webb, whose husband, research indicated, was 
a great grandson of a knight lisher of King Henry VIH. 

Thomas Barnum walked a little over a quarter of a 
mile to attend that sanctuary and of his accredited grand- 
father the monumental record in All Saints church, Hol- 
Hngbourne Hill, to this hour, runs: "A man on every 



80 



side of gentle birth, most happy in the extreme piety of 
his life and death alike, on whom God poured of this 
world's gifts of nature, grace and honor. 

Richard Olmsted, naturally endowed and acquire- 
ment-gifted, was a visitor beneath that humble roof, and 
so was Matthias St. John, of acknowledged descent, and 
Nathaniel Ely and Nathaniel Richards, whose converse 
before his Norwalk residence was with the eminent of the 
land, and Ruth Clark, sister-in-law of the first rector of 
Yale College, and Richard Raymond, the honored fore- 
father of five commodores in the American Navy. 

Richard Seymour was another parishioner of Mr. 
Hanford and about, if not the earliest one who was com- 
mitted to the Norwalk earth, leaving a widow who wed- 
ded one of Connecticut's renowned sons and thenceforth 
resided near the Colony's government seat. 

There were some of the progenitors of early Nor- 
walk, all of whom were numbered among Mr. Hanford's 
own people — a people dominated, seemingly, by the idea 
implied in the injunction "drink deep or taste not." The 
pastor had just died and the church was vacant, but at 
least one family had been so thoroughly taught that, 
without waiting the choice of their pastor's successor its 
members journeyed to Fairfieldj where the father made 
profession of his faith and consecrated his little one to 
the Lord and had his four-years-old niece, who sleeps 
under the oldest inscribed tombstone, in Norwalk, a little 
Belden bud, baptized. 

It is not the analist's part or policy to keep on the 
blind side of events, certainly not to be blind to his 
clients' blemishes. It is but sensible to suppose that this 
town's virgin story was that of a not altogether flawless 
administration. 

But as it would be invideous to imply censure unless 
there is known cause for it so is it dishonest to withhold 
praise where it is manifestly due. The training, civil or 
ecclesiastical, which furnished to Canaan parish such a 
head as Theophilus Fitch, or Wilton with a James Betts, 
or Westport with a John Taylor, or Ridgefield with a 
Matthew Keeler, the rearing, in a home lot within a 
stone cast of this church which developed Esther Isaacs, 
whose daughter Mary was the grandmother of the 
Prince of College Presidents, Timothy Dwight, D. D., 
now in Europe, and daughter Sarah, a mother from 
whom sprang the Kings, Grades and Hopkins, and son 
Ralph, the grandfather of Ralph Isaacs Ingersoll, 

81 



United States minister to the empire of Russia, such 
rearing is entitled to remark if nothing more than in the 
interests of ethnology. Why was such a perceptible 
percentage of Norwalk's second and third generation 
men of consideration. Joseph Piatt and his son were 
over fifty years in the colonial legislature. Thomas 
Fitch was year after year lieutenant governor and sev- 
eral years governor. Matthew Campfield had such high 
repute abroad that the King of England nominated him 
a charter member of Connecticut's royal patent, and 
Samuel Fitch was constituted a commonwealth gover- 
nor's adviser. Had character nothing to do with promo- 
tion in these cases? Were strong religious scruples noth- 
ing of a leverage in these instances ; or, if a modern il- 
lustration be asked, was it a miserable ideal which gave 
to this place in the person of Eli B. Bennett one whose 
half century's Norwalk debtor and credit treasury ac- 
counts balanced to a single cent. 

Something ruled Henry Whitney or he could have 
hardly ruled the settles as he did in 1664, and his descen- 
dant, Stephen Whitney, followed quite naturally on. 

Still to trace descendants down from an old glory line, 
the heroic Daniel Ketchum from Joseph Ketchum and 
his Taylor wife ; or the Master in Israel, Dr. Joel Ben- 
edict from Thomas and Bridget Benedict, or the wife 
of the distinguished president, Charles King, from Ne- 
hemiah and Elizabeth Rogers, or the hardy and intrepid 
younger and older Rear Admiral Francis H. Gregory 
from a Norwalk pillar in the great John Davenport's 
New Haven church, all this would be lawful were Sun- 
day the day and this the hour for the same. The seed 
which Thomas Hanford planted bore fruit, which fruit is 
fact to-day. , 

The church and secular histories of early Norwalk 
are so closely coetaneous that to pursue the one is al- 
most necessarily to indicate the other. 

Stephen Buckingham was the successor of Thomas 
Hanford and the town at the former's advent had con- 
siderably changed in the poulation particular at least. 
The first generation had about disappeared and those 
who were young at Norwalk's planting were, fifty years 
later, aged, while the children of Mr. Hanford's junior 
years were the middle-aged subjects of his successor's 
ministrations. The tide of progress was setting gradu- 
ally in. The new second meeting house was still further 
improved, and the first tide mill erected. Samuel Car- 

8S 



ter had arrived and Benjamin Lynes and Ralph Isaacs 
and soon plans for a third fine church discussed and 
two school districts provided for and quite an oyster 
plant already proposed. Mr. Buckingham was not a 
narrow gauge man. His London-purchased library 
adorned a minister's home which was presided over by 
Mary Willet's daughter Sarah, a grandchild of the first 
mayor of New York and one of the most refined ladies 
of the colony, a home which after ward formed the birth 
spot of some of the merchant princes of the continent. 
It is true that after years of diligence and devotion a 
little cloud arose in Mr. Buckingham's horizon, but who 
can declare its exact why and wherefore. The great- 
grandson of Thomas Buckingham, of Saybrook, and the 
Yale-honored Harvard young man, was of no mean 
status. 

Following Mr. Buckingham came, in 1727, a New 
Jersey man of thirty-five in whose brother's dwelling 
Princeton college was born. Moses Dickinson, the son 
of a trader, and whose mother was of the Stratford Blake- 
man family, a descendant of which has erected the stone 
library in Stratford which so adorns the main street of 
that place, was one of the finest appearing men in the 
colony. His tomb and that of his parishioner. Col. Ste- 
phen St. John, lie in proximity and the earth, in both in- 
stances, covers the dust of the accredited two handsomest 
people in pre-Revolutionary Norwalk. Mr. Dickinson's 
manners as he walked up the new stone steps which had 
been laid at the east door of his East avenue church, 
(now site of Thomas residence), were striking. He was 
of exceptional parts and a typical best citizen of New 
England. His advent to Norwalk was marked by the 
parting with some of his choicest wheat wherewith to 
sow New Canaan and Wilton. A number of his flock 
identified themselves with the former place which in June 
last dignifiedly and delightfully kept its anniversary and 
which has given to science and humanity a Samuel St. 
John and to the service of the state a Samuel Raymond, 
and as late as this day and in the flower of his faculties a 
John H. Light. Of Wilton it is honor enough for the moth- 
er town and church now to recall the names of her Moses 
Stuart and Dr. David Benjamin Belden and Prof. 
Hawley Olmstead,. 

St. Paul's church was organized soon after Mr. Dick- 

. inson arrived which Dickinson and the son of the builder 

of the first structure used by Yale after its establishment 



» 



in New Haven, the first rector of St. Paul, cared, spirit- 
ually, for the Norwalk fold. Mr. Dickinson and Drs. 
Judd and Learning, the last two of St. Paul's, lived 
neighbors for many years. The stormy period of the 
Revolution set in and the clergy of the two churches held 
opposite views but both were remarkable men. Dr. 
Learning was Mr. Dickinson's contemporary until with- 
in one year of the burning of both these men's churches, 
Mr. Dickinson dying, beloved and lamented, on May 
day, 1778 and Mr. Learning removing from the town 
to be thereafter buried in New Haven, Governor Thom- 
as Fitch was of Mr. Dickinson's flock and Dr. Uriah 
Rogers, and the future Chancellor Kent was a school 
boy in one of his families, while next door to his house 
was born the afterward godly, gifted and widely cele- 
brated Bishop Abraham Jarvis, the successor of Sea- 
bury in the American Episcopate. The town in Pastor 
Dickinson's day fast grew, its directory embracing such 
noticeable names as Capt. John Thatcher, Col. Eliphalet 
Lockwood, Samuel Jarvis, Asa Hoyt, Nathaniel Bouton, 
Dr. Thaddeus Betts, John Belden, John Piatt, Nathan 
Nash, Dennis Wright, Ebenezer Church and Nathan 
Mallory. Mr. Dickinson was assisted by Rev. William 
Tennent and followed by Dr. Matthias Burnet, who, 
coming in this place in 1785, was the first occupant of the 
pulpit, so remembered for its neatness, in the reverently 
recalled structure that stood on the Green almost facing 
the site of this edifice. Our old people were wont to 
speak with feeling regard of Dr. Burnet after whom came 
Roswell R. Swan, of Eastern Connecticut and memory 
dear to the generation just past. The day of his funeral 
saw the town in mourning and the cortege from the par- 
sonage to the Town Hill cemetery was a sorrowing one. 
During Dr. Burnet and Mr. Swan's incumbences St. 
Paul enjoyed the charge of the scholarly John Bowden, 
the well fitted Dr. William Smith, the interesting Ogilvie, 
the endeared Henry W^hitlock and the energetic Dr. 
Reuben Sherwood. Both societies prospered under the 
oversight of these different men and were an influence 
in the history town. 

During the ministrations of Dr. Burnet and the 
temporary supply of Mr. Foot at St. Paul's, Methodism 
was planted, in Norwalk. The few whom Cornelius 
Cook in 1787 and Jesse Lee in 1789 impressed grew, ul- 
timately, to a vigorous body; and when a score or two 
years later a zealous elder visited the spot and hinted to 



M 



Absalom Day with reference to a subscription for an 
abiding home for the faithful of that persuasion, Mr. Day 
at once acted upon the suggestion and himself headed a 
column, the footing up of which exhibited a handsome 
sum total. Holmes Saunders, of the present Elm crest 
became deeply interested and with two or three others 
secured the lot on lower West avenue which is now beau- 
tified by one of the most commodious and attractive tem- 
ples of worship in the commonwealth. 

The Methodist body is entitled to high praise. It 
has built five churches in Middle Norwalk and several 
chapels outside, and since the days that a few of its mem- 
bers were accustomed to sing and pray in the little almost 
rock overhung cottage slightly to the west of what was 
then known as the "old well road," has accomplished a 
great work for the Master. Absolom Day and Matthew 
Wilcox will live in Norwalk Christian annals and the 
name of Hill is one wherewith to exaltedly incite the mem- 
bers of that earnest and influential communion. While 
the Methodist clergy on account of their distinctive sys- 
tem have not remained in Norwalk as long as their 
brethren of other names, still their ardent promulgation 
of evangelical truth and their warm support of whatever 
is of good report entitle them to distinguished mention. 

After Mr. Swan came Rev. Sylvester Eaton, who 
was introduced to his people by Eliza Susan, daughter 
of Capt. Hezekiah Betts. Miss Betts was an instructress 
and benefactress whose merits deserve monumental 
memory perpetuation. Two of her brothers became 
ministers of Christ while another brother, Henry, was the 
actual originator of the Rotary Printing press. Mr. Ea- 
ton remained some six years, when the ministriesful 
Henry Benedict, in 1828, filled a brief pastoral term. 
Then succeeded, in 1832, Edwin Hall, whose claim upon 
this community's deep and lasting esteem is most valid. 
He was a thinker. His talent was due to reflection. He 
was not an orator but, rather, a calm, impassioned advo- 
cate of revealed trurh whose expositions of the same 
were extraordinarily clear and convincing. He was a 
stranger to speculation. Such strong men of the strong 
Fairfield County Bar as Clark Bissell, Thaddeus Betts, 
Thomas B. Butler and Mason Carter were drawn to him 
because, not of gesture, nor of cadence, but because of 
Edwin Hall's soundness and incomptibility. Like Theo- 
philus Smith, of New Canaan, with whose doctrinal views 
he was in entire accord and who was one of his most in- 



timate friends he had a mind and a heart for his work, 
Norwalk to the end of its history will remain his insolvent 
debtor. He loved the town and did a valuable work in 
compiling and preserving its ancient records. 




jiljLS;.' 



zum 



liev. C. M. Selleck's Address — Continued. 

It fell to Dr. Hall to set off from the parent pre- 
cinct the Second Congregational Church, the successful 
planting of which Old Well daughter was due to its 
founders' worth. It was evidently a belief in this that 
influenced, especially the sister of Mrs. Moses Gregory, 
to surrender a portion of the prized Hoyt home seat 
for a site for the new society's church. Intermixed 
with this society's roll call of sixty-five organization 
members, were various view holders, it is possible, but 
when James Knox, in neat syllables, and with fascinat- 
ing mode, and after him John B. Shaw, Francis C. 
Woodworth, Z. K. Hawley and John Austin addressed 
a membership, among whom were several of Norwalk's 
central characters, they spake to a goodly and Godly 
unity, a fact which at the church's start, so gratified the 
mother pastor that he — this was told over his coffin in 
Auburn — was moved to relinquish what his own people 
had provided for his comfort, in order that his former 
South Norwalk children might thereby be convenienced. 
It is renown enough for Old Well that one of its levels 
was the fireside of five sisters, one of whom wedded a 
medical celebrity, another a Washington congressman, 
another a local reputation inhabitant, and another still 
the grandfather of William Tecumseh Sherman, and 
that on one of its primitive meadow paths was bred the 
young man who fired, when Garth came, one of the 
shots poetry declared to have been heard round the 
world, and that near one of its little ontioras was 
brought up another youth, who on his sixteenth birth- 
day, June 20, 18 1 5, knelt as soon as he left his bed, and 
gave himself forever to God, the same Old Well boy 
becoming, afterward, the founder of the American 
Home Missionry Society, the historian of the state of 
New Hampshire, and the preacher in this pulpit, in July, 
185 1, of the remarkable sermon on the occasion of the 
bi-centennial of Norwalk. Cherished, in Norwalk and 
South Norwalk, be the memory — their inheritance — of 
Nathaniel S. Bouton, whose old testament blessing to 
the concourse within these walls of fifty years ago was 
the very benediction he breathed over his family the 
last Sabbath night of his earthly life. 

The Congregational and all other churches of 
promiseful South Norwalk have examples of high vir- 
tue to henceforth incite them. Deacon John Bouton 
was a faithful forever man; no one doubted Daniel K. 

3Sa 



Nash's sincerity; William H. Benedict's spirit was his 
charm; Stephen G. Ferris' sainthood was pure. 

Dr. Hall's neighbors at St. Paul's were Jackson 
Kempner and William Cooper Mead, two of the rarest 
members on the clergy list of the American Episcopal 
Church. The first of these rectors was called from Nor- 
^, walk to the first bishopric of the great Northwest, and 

the second was for many sessions secretary of the House 
of Bishops, and "Father," so denominated, of the 
Lower House of the general convention of that church, 
in the United States. He saw the now enlarged Trinity 
Church, South Norwalk, leave the parental roof and 
since his day Grace parish has been planted. He lived 
to old age and died in harness, one of the enjoyments 
of his last days having been his acquaintance with the 
Rev. Samuel B. S. Bissell, his neighbor and warm 
friend, and Norwalk's peerless son. It also gave him 
true pleasure to receive, some little time before his de- 
cease, a cordial, candid message from his eighteen years 
fellow resident, Dr. Edwin Hall, of Western New York. 
Drs. Kempner and Mead were Bible and Prayer Book 
churchmen, and their teaching was that of a simple 
Gospel. As to the latter's teaching mode and matter, 
it has never, perhaps, been better summed up than in 
the language of one of Wilton's irreproachable sons, 
and a beloved physician of Norwalk and officer of this 
church. Dr. Ira Gregory, who was wont to repeat "Dr. 
Mead was one of the most evangelical preachers I ever 
listened to." Since his day his old care has had several 
rectors. The venerable mother has a history, and may 
she, crowned with age and covered with glory, go on 
and ever shine forth in the splendor which haloed her 
story in the years of olden times. 

William Bout on Weed, who took up Edwin Hall's 
laid-down work, was of masterly parts and of wonderful 
mental resources. His signal ability securely held his 
congregation, which it is the plain truth to say, he fed 
on elegant competencies. From his day to this day, 
this church has continued to be presided over by men 
of weight, including the names so familiar to and re- 
gardfully esteemed by all, of Anderson, Dunham, Ham- 
ilton. Ciiilds, Noble and Egbert. . 

To treat of its long line of laity will fall to the an- 
alist, next year, of this, then quarter-thousand years 
old society. His work will be a recompenseful one, and 
we can hardly repress the conviction that the occasion 
vv'ould be a suitable one on which to inaugurate meas- 



•iLires looknig to the restoration ol the behevecl to "be 
resting place, in our old cemetery, of Thomas Hanford, 
who has had several Norwalk born ministerial succes- 
sors, to one of whom, in whose veins the most honored 
■blood of the plantation flows, it most appropriately and 
happily falls to pronounce, on Wednesday next, the 
oration of this celebration. 

The summer of 1837 had reached its last day, when 
the Baptist Society of Norwalk came into existence. 
Among its vigorous first members the names of Arnold, 
of Norwalk, and Moulton, of Westport, will ever stand 
prominently out. It was not, at the start, a large, but 
it V\'as an earnest body, and its growth has been due to 
a candid presentation of its distinctive dogma and prin- 
ciples. For the early two or three years of its history 
its services were generally held in the present town 
house, and there was a somewhat transient supply of 
ministerial service. In 1840 the present church on The 
Green was dedicated, and the pastorate of the Rev. 
James Wooisey entered upon. Mr. Woolsey was an 
honor to his profession. Finely equipped intellectually, 
of deep spiritual nature and of sincerity itself eloquence, 
he was esteemed wherever known, and highly beloved 
by his own people. Sore affliction visited him during 
the earlier portion of his Norwalk life, but himself and 
more than admirable partner bore their bereavement 
pressure, and emerging from the trial, here accom- 
plished a good work. 

It is not difhcult to trace the origin, in this town, 
of the Roman Catholic Church, as it is one of our latest 
born ecclesiastical organizations. It was the faith of 
those hardy very iew, who, within existing memories, 
could have been seen on Sunday morning walking over 
Jarvis Flill, and there, quietly removing the shoes from 
their feet, trudged zealously on as far east as the old 
Fairfield and Bridgeport division line, where, before 
entering the house of God, they would replace their 
shoes, and dust their travel-soiled wardrobe, so that no 
disrespect should be done the sacred place from whence, 
after their morning sacrifice and the blessing of Mother 
Church,they would turn their faces toward their four- 
teen miles westward home; it was, we say, the zeal of 
such as these which ended in the establishment, in this 
community, of that communion. The first mass was 
established sixty-eight years ago, and anon public wor- 
ship was offered in a liall on Water street, and in the 
town house. After this an edifice was reared in 185 1, in 

36c 



Cfiapef street, which ans"wered' until the erection of the 
loftier granite structure, on West avenue. St. Mary's 
has been under the care of some fifteen pastors, includ- 
ing the scholarly Rev. Dr. John Mulligan, and also o£ 
one of fine instincts and refined ways,, and who, like 
Edwin Hall, seemed to love our wave-kissed beach, 
along which his quiet figure of saintly mien would be 
seen in apparent meditation and contemplation, and of 
Rev. Peter A. Smith, who built, in 1869, his memorial, 
the present temple, and whose indefatigability at that 
time is well recalled, and of the gp-eat-souled Father 
Slocum, the appreciation of whose fidelity on the part 
of his own people, and of his exceptional spirit b}' those 
outside his fiock was ever, until his bishop summoned 
him to a higher position, in the ascending scale. St.. 
Mary's has enjoyed the ministrations of a devoted 
clergy, and its laity has been a g'enerous body. It has' 
provided for itself a stately and beautiful habitation, and 
seen built a commodious tabernacle for its So. Norwalk 
daughter. It has also enjoyed the honor of filling with 
one of its own children, the Episcopal throne of the 
Diocese of Hartford. 

Unitarianism has never had a footing here, and 
Universalism only a tentative one. There are those 
among us, probably, whose views incline in these di- 
rections, but their number is comparatively small. We 
have German and Swedish congregations ; also a so- 
called Latter Day Saints organization. Our Hebrew 
population has a burial plot, but Mormonism, albeit 
Brigham Young and Elder Snow and a companion of 
the two spent about a week in the place in endeavors 
to establish their belief, has never here thriven. 

It is hoped that all our ecclesiastical families have 
gathered data in connection with this month's obser- 
vances, and it is expected that the same will be properly 
cared for. 

Medicine, the bar, the school and academy, art, 
manufacture, commerce, agriculture, banking and gen- 
eral business, all these have had representatives, a num- 
ber of whom have been distinguished, and all merit 
recognition, at the proper time, at this celebration, a 
celebration at which it would be unnatural could we 
forget our only older sister, the favored and beautiful 
town of Stamford, on our West. It took some little 
time for the exact definement of the geographical boun- 
dary lines between us, but since that date, side by side, 
w^e have gone on, God in His Providence having richly 



86d 



blessed this, by a few years older daughter than our- 
selves, of the commonwealth, and having, we devout- 
ly pray, still greater benediction, if it be possible, in re- 
serve for her. 

Our limit is reached, we fear transcended, but one 
thought, just here, is irrepressible. The glory of our 
celebration is heightened and an honor done this ancient 
plantation by the ofifer, at this historic juncture, from 
a world benefactor, of funds for a library building, fol- 
lowed quickly by the gift of a handsome site for the 
same. Words of fulsome eulogy would be ofitensive, but 
the name of Carnegie, of coilossal munificence and 
Bishop of local beneficence, the donations of whom 
mean so much that is better, purer, loftier to us, are 
written on our hearts, and our people are conjured by 
all that is truly valuable to make, as a suitable acknowl- 
edgement on our part, this noble offering a grand and 
lasting success. 

Our tribute to-day has largely been that to old- 
fashioned virtue, which has certainly here proven itself 
competent to be the safeguard of right, and depend 
upon one thing, if it be desirable that the hour shall re- 
turn when ancient conscience shall again ])ear rule, the 
stars in their courses will never alone bring it round ; 
it will come, under God, not by going back to ancient 
agriculture, or manufacture, or travel, but to the Godly 
groimding ideas of days departed. 

This stone, brethren and friends, is a witness. . 
Joshua's figure is fact, his rock had a tongue and this 
week's ceremonies here in these courts, this blessed 
Lord's day opened, are a voiceful and proud attestation 

Salutation to all, descendents of such sound stock. 
We bless our God for what our ancestors were, and for 
what they wrought. Norwalk, South, East West nd 
North, all Norwalk should now pitch its te deuni to an 
exultant Key, and join in a rapturous Gloria in Excelsis. 
The observance has a profound interpretation. It is 
an important object-lesson, and an all important spirit- 
reality. May we enter into the spirit of the occasion. 
May it be more to us than a past commemoration. O 
may it be to us a present product and a present profit, 
and when the years shall have chased each other over 
these hills and valleys of our progenitors, and over our 
graves, and brought in Anno Domini two thousand one- 
hundred and fifty, may the projectors of the five hun- 
dredth anniversarv of our beloved father town's birth 



be inspired by the record of what we, at this anniver- 
sary, have decreed and done. 

The Lord bless us ; the Lord be merciful and gra- 
cious unto us. The Lord our God and our father's 
God, Hft upon us the Hght of His countenance, and for- 
ever keep us and all who shall come after us, in His 
perfect peace. Amen, Amen. 

To Father, Son and Holy Ghost be all the glory, 
henceforward forevermore. Amen. 

The audience then joined in singing "My Country, 
'Tis of Thee," and was dismissed with the benediction, 
pronounced by the Rev. Mr. Egbert. 




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First Congregrational Church. 2. Xorwalk .Methodist Church. 3. Trinity Church. 4. First 
Baptist Church. 5. Soxith Xorwalk Congregational Church. ('.. First ^[ethodist 
Church. * 7. St. Marv's Church. S. St. Paul's Church. 




AT THE FIRST CHURCH-NORWALK 



S FAR as practicable the morning ser- 
vices of Sunday, September 8, were 
devoted to historical discourses appro- 
priate to the anniversary. During the 
services in the First Congregational 
Church in the morning the following 
address was delivered by the pastor, 
Rev. George Drew Egbert. 
A stage coach is picturesque ; once upon a time, it 
was even swift. The tourists of a nation and the corres- 
pondence of a nation were once carried in this fashion, 
to the satisfaction of all concerned. Just now, to get 
anj'where, and to get there promptly, people have a habit 
of using limited express trains. The romance of the 
sunny turnpike has gone, and the rough reality of rattle 
and cinders has succeeded. The coach has been rele- 
gated to the ultra society of the tally-ho, and at the other 
extreme, to the picturesque ultra society of the wild-west. 
But it was so picturesque ! Yes — but the everyday 
traveler has one purpose, and that is to get there. Hence 
the locomotive. A bureau with carved legs and antique 
handles of the revolutionary period will hold no more 
clothes nor hold them more securely because of its legs 
or handles; and what, pray, is the bureau for? Curios- 
ity is one thing and capacity is another. That General 
Washington drank from a well is no certificate that the 
water is not crammed with microbes. It is clear enough 
that every man in a house divided against itself on the 
historical question ; a sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 
the one meaning a passion for the old, and the other an 
equally violent passion for the new. The latest fad — 
that's attractive, because it is late; the oldest candle- 
stick — that is attractive, because it is early. But would 
you exchange a spluttering flicker called tallow-dip for 
a sixteen candle-power electric light? When it comes to 
light for everv-night use, you want the latest, just ao 
when it comes to heat, you prefer radiators to foot- 
stoves. We can grow sentimental over a faded rose, but 
we take good care that the flower gardens are up to date, 
and we do not grow faded roses. Just remember, the 
Venus of Milo is no more valuable for having lost her 
arms. We look back, then, not because we believe that 
the better landscapes are nearer the sunrise ; for the west 

87 



is tapestried as magnificently as the east; not because men 
were better and life was finer, for life is surely not the one 
exception in the story of progress ; nor yet do we look 
back, because as a church, we can cHmb into the upper 
and airy branches of a genealogical tree. We all have an 
ancestry, and to be able to trace it simply, is no large 
compliment to the ancestry, any more than to be able to 
trace the way of a brooklet through the underbrush up 
a mountain-side is to say that the water has a good flavor. 
What the thirsty climber tastes is not to be expressed in 
furlongs and miles. So, I say, we have stopped and 
turned around for a little at this season, be- 
cause it is healthy for us to recall that men 
with smaller favors than ours have lived nobly and 
effectively — because their faithfulness with a little has 
made our abundance possible, and because we should 
be ashamed to do less and passionately eager to do far 
more than they. Our yesterdays are to hint our to-mor- 
rows ; our pride that our church is old is to transform 
itself into a determination that we shall make it young. 
Thank God for the frost on the forehead, but take good 
care to keep it out of the heart. 

Though our age is unquestioned, we have to depend 
for the details, or at least for such details as are available, 
on records that are sadly incomplete. Down as far as 
the period of the pastorate of Mr. Swan, who was in- 
stalled in 1807, three large folio volumes of church rec- 
ords were carefully preserved, during the latter part of 
their existence, in the library of Dr. Matthias Burnett, 
Mr. Swan's predecessor. These volumes are edited res- 
pectively by Mr. Hanford, Mr. Buckingham and Mr. 
Dickinson, the first of whom was the first pastor of the 
church ; and we may be sure that the story they told 
would be fascinating to all of us who are interested in the 
history of this venerable organization. It appears, how- 
ever, that after Dr. Burnett's death, these valuable books 
were left in a basket in the garret of the then 
parsonage, and irreverent rats, with a taste for 
antiquity — at any rate a taste for paper, gnawed 
their way through the precious pages, and nested 
among the deacons and feasted upon the statis- 
tics. I am glad to say, however, that there is 
still in existence and now in the possession of Mr. George 
B. .St. John, the original records of the society, begun in 
1726, when the church was organized as a separate insti- 
tution. Curious to relate, this old volume is still the 

88 



record book of this society. This book and the various 
historical memoranda that tell the story of the town, 
while not ample as sources of information still serve to 
furnish us considerable data regarding the earlier history 
of this dear old church. I may add that conversation 
with the older members of the present congregation have 
furnished me with items of interest that will be available 
but little longer, but which add much to our stock of 
information concerning the every-day experiences of our 
predecessors in the work of this ecclesiastical society. 
May I also add that should any statement of this little 
sketch need alteration or modification I trust that the few 
familiar with the finer particulars of our history, particu- 
larly of our more recent history, will not hesitate to sug- 
gest the proper corrections. 

Thf^ve have been five church buildings in the history. 
Three of these stood on East avenue, the first of all near 
the present East Norwalk station of the New Haven 
road, opposite or nearly opposite the bowlder erected by 
the Daughters of the American Revolution at the junc- 
ture of the road to Southport with East avenue. It is to 
be remembered that the church was a town institution 
for many years, supported by town funds, and governed 
through town-meetings. It is curious to notice in the 
town records how provisions for maintaining a pound, 
mending drains, pasturing coavs, killing wolves, and 
keeping town taverns are mingled with arrangements for 
conducting religious services — and the close connection 
between church and state could hardly be more vividly 
suggested than by the note that the same man was ap- 
pointed to beat the town drum and sweep the meeting 
house, at the liberal salary of six dollars a year or there- 
about. The school clung close to the church, and when 
as a result of some twinges of conscience, perhaps, or 
some special spasm of virtue, it was determined by the 
town fathers that there should be no more town-meet- 
ings held as theretofore in the meeting-house, the school- 
house was chosen for such meetings, at any rate until the 
erection of a town-house. The first building was erected 
in 1659, ^'^s thirty feet long and was built on twelve foot 
posts. The other dimensions are given in the records, 
but the writing has become indistinct. An addition was 
made to this in 1664, nearly doubling the capacity of the 
church, but the building seems to have continued in use 
for only about fifteen years, for in 1679 another was 
planned. Then the first church trouble arose, at any 

80 



rate the first trouble of which there is record. Some 
wanted the new church here — some there. No doubt 
these thrifty and shrewd old settlers realized the com- 
mercial value of property close to a church; perhaps 
some did not relish a longer walk in the heavy drifts f"f 
winter to the morning service on the Sabbath. At any 
rate, the discussion waxed hot until it was finally decided 
to leave the whole matter to three commissioners, of 
which the minister was one, who were given full power. 
It is plain that arbitration is not a modern invention, 
and if churches would refer their dififerences to a few 
reliable men and give them full power, we would be 
saved the story of many a disruption and many a scene 
disgraceful in itself; doubly disgraceful because of the 
Christian professions of its participants. Our history to- 
day has given us this hint, and if it gives us nothing 
more than this, we shall be amply repaid for the backward 
looking. We moderns cannot improve on this method 
of calming church feuds. The record reads: "These men 
arc to hear all reasons and arguments on both sides and 
the town engages to sit down satisfied with the deter- 
mination." The chtirch finally sat down on the ast side 
of East avenue a little further up, about on the site of the 
present residence of Dr. Beard, and the old school-house 
stood on the site of the old building evidently once a 
school-house, just below Dr. Beard's. The meeting- 
house was forty-five feet square, and i6 feet between the 
joints, whatever that may mean. The story adds naively 
"the roof is to be after the manner of the Fairfield meet- 
ing-house." It would never do, of course, for Norwalk 
to be outdone by Fairfield, even in a roof. In 1697, an 
improvement was added in the shape of a gallery, and 
shortly afterward a bell was placed on the building, hav- 
ing been purchased from one Ralph Keeler on trial. I 
noticed that some time thereafter, this same Ralph Kee- 
ler had the contract not only for furnishing the bell, but 
also for providing a place in which to hang it. One may 
get a hint that these thrifty people found town jobs — 
otherwise called public works, as remunerative as the 
shrewd men of to-day find political pickings. This 
building continued in use until 1717, when the matter of 
a new building was agitated. Tlie stated quarrel arose, 
but at this time it was centered about the question 
whether there should be a new church at all or whether 
the old one should be repaired. The vote was close, be- 
ing taken somewhat after the parliamentary fashion, a 

io 



division being called for and the ayes signifying their 
preference by adjourning to the church yard. The ori- 
ginal plan was finally followed, however, and the whole 
matter referred to a committee with power to act. It is 
worth noticing that when so exciting a question arose, 
the committee was composed of only three people — a 
suggestion worth heeding. In the multitude of counsel- 
lors there is wisdom, but the homely proverb which 
states the other side of the question is also worth notic- 
ing — "Too many cooks spoil the broth." Committees, 
with power, appointed to end a dispute on the arbitration 
principle had better be limited in numbers, and very lim- 
ited. The decision was ultimately in favor of a new 
building and the site was chosen on East avenue, still 
further up, or nearly opposite the present residence, as far 
as I can make out, of Mr E. M. Lockwood. 

We now reach the period from which dates the 
organization of this ecclesiastical Society as a separate 
organization. This was precipitated by a bitter dissen- 
sion that arose in connection with the then pastor, the 
Rev. Stephen Buckingham. He was accused of very 
serious misdoings, but he had his supporters, though I 
should judge from the tone of the records, these rapidly 
fell away from him, until he found it wise to resign. 
Three days after his resignation, the Prime Ancient So- 
ciety in Norwalk was organized ; the first minister of 
the new parish being Dr. Burnett. The church continued 
to use the old meeting-house which, by the way, con- 
tained the old pulpit presented to the new organization 
by vote of the town. In the heat of the Revolutionary 
War, Dr. Burnett died, and when General Tryon burned 
Norwalk the meeting-house was destroyed. It was not 
until 1790 that the fourth building was completed, and 
though its erection was over a century ago, we are 
brought very close to it by the fact that several of the 
older members of this church worshipped in this old 
building for several years previous to the erection of the 
p-resent church building. This meeting house stood on 
the GreeU; a little north of this church, or about opposite 
Lewis street. It was white and had green blinds and 
was graced with a spire. On this was the old weather- 
vane recently removed from our spire, and in the belfry 
the bell bought in New Haven by the father of our 
fellow-member, Mr. F. St. John Lockwood. This bell 
was a few years since melted down into souvenirs, and 
replaced by our present bell, the gift of Miss Julia Lock- 



41 



wood in memory of her parents. The building faced 
west, that is, in the opposite direction from the present 
church, and after a time a platform was extended across 
its front and a conference room was built over the vesti- 
bule entered from the gallery stairway by stepping down 
a step or so. Here the prayer-meetings were held, and 
here, too, Mr. Lewis was accustomed to tune his bass 
viol in preparation for the service in which he was gen- 
erally the only instrumentalist. Once in a while, how- 
ever, the well-known Judge Butler, the eminent jurist, 
would 'assist in the music with his violin, of which he 
was considered a skilful player, and the large choir of 
forty voices combined with these players to make for the 
first church the reputation for good music, which the 
latter choirs have done so much to maintain. The build- 
ing was heated by huge wood-stoves, the pipes from one 
of which ran the whole length of the church and made 
the "droppings of the sanctuary" something more than 
a metaphor to the luckless people who happened to be 
beneath them at unfortunate moments. North of the 
old church and between it and the school-house which 
stood near the upper end of the Green, was low marshy 
ground, transformed into a pond when the weather was 
wet, which furnished the main attraction to the young 
people, when frozen over. Imagine the romances of 
which that Green ihas been the center. Romances of 
which we can notice even now the results. The school- 
house itself, in which taught for many years, and with 
signal success. Miss Susan Betts, whose heart was in 
proportion to her body, is still standing, though trans- 
formed into a dwelling-house — the last house on the 
north side of Lewis street. I am sorry to say that I have 
been unable to find any trace of any photograph of the 
old church. The present church w^as built in the late 
forties on ground previously occupied by the residence 
of Mr. Levi Clark. The old well remained in the cellar 
of this building for many years, but was finally filled up, 
when the new chapel was built. This building has seen 
but few important changes. It was thoroughly redecor- 
ated during the pastorate of Mr. Hamilton, the organ 
had already been introduced in the gallery over the vesti- 
bule during Dr. Childs' pastorate, and was removed to 
its present position when the chapel was built, while Mr. 
Edward Anderson was pastor. Our present organist, 
Mr. Gibson, was its first regular organist remaining at 
that time for seventeen years. The old chapel which 

42 



was detached from the church was presented to the Afri- 
can Methodist church on Knight street, and the present 
commodious and beautiful chapel took its place. A fire 
breaking out in the roof on a winter's night and threat- 
ening imminently the destruction of the building was 
too recent an occurrence to need further mention. The 
record would not be complete, however, if I did not men- 
tion the debt-raising and large church improvements 
during the pastorate of my predecessor, our pastor 
emeritus. 

We are now ready to notice that while there have 
been five church buildings, there have ministered in this 
parish fifteen clergymen as installed pastors, not includ- 
ing the present speaker. This gives i6 years as the aver- 
age length of the pastorate, a splendid record. The long- 
est pastorate was that of Mr. Dickinson, who died in 
1771 in his 83rd year, having been pastor for fifty-one 
years. The shortest pastorate was that of Mr. Henry 
Benedict, who was dismissed in 1832 after serving the 
church for four years. To the names of the regular pas- 
tors as found in the manual should be added as supplies 
Mr. Dunham, a young man who did splendid work dur- 
ing a year's service ; Dr. Plumraer, previously of Rich- 
mond, Virginia, who, while remarkably effective, was un- 
fortunate in having been associated in the minds of the 
people with secession and therefore found his later min- 
istry not acceptable to a large portion ; and Mr. Everest, 
a m.an of remarkable pulpit power, under whom many of 
the present members of the church connected themselves 
with it. It would he difficult in this long list of pastors 
to single out any as peculiarly worthy of mention. Dr. 
Hall was perhaps the ablest theologian, and he had a 
large reputation, filling the high position of Professor in 
Auburn Seminary. If to-day people think of him as 
severe and uninteresting, let them recall the fact that he 
was ever leveling his knightly lance at error and unhors- 
ing it, at any rate, to his own satisfaction. Mr. Weed 
was, 1 should judge, on the whole, the ablest preacher. 
His reputation for brilliant sermons spread far, and at 
this distance of years, I have marked the enthusiasm 
wdth which competent judges have mentioned him as a 
public speaker. Stories of his eccentricities linger, but 
these did not interfere with his success in the pulpit, nor 
diminish the affection of his people ; his peculiar habit 
of twisting his handkerchief while preaching is recalled, 
but he held his audience spell-bound by wonderful ser- 

43 



mons preached absolutely without notes and toward the 
end of his ministry, at the speed of three each Sabbath. 
We cannot but regret that so able a man should have 
burned to the socket so early. While Dr. Hall was so 
eminent a scholar, it should be added that he must have 
been eminent as an administrator, for a man who can 
bring up six children on a salary for years of not over 
eight hundred dollars give them all a decent education, 
and a son a college education, must have been a genius 
in other ways than philosophizing. One meets the hints 
of this side of the pastor's life in the quaint account of 
the committee records such as this: "Voted that Mr. 
Handford should have three score pounds allowed, for 
the year ensuing, for his rate and he is to be paid as fol- 
loweth: 30 pounds in wheat and pease and barley; of 
the other pounds, 22 pounds is to be paid in beef and 
pork at the common current price that it brings when 
it is "dew." And this '"The Society declare that they 
will appoint a committee to get people voluntarily to cart 
and give wood for Mr. Tennent and trust by that means 
he will have a proper supply of that article." And there 
is a grim suggestion about the report of a town meet 
that voted "the inhabitants of any town shall not be un- 
der any obligation by forxe of any vote to pay any provi- 
sion for the answering of their several proportions of Mr. 
Buckingham's salary." There is nothing new under the 
sun ; when those early settlers desired to rid themselves 
of an obnoxious pastor, they simply stopped his pay. 
So there are some things ancient that will hardly warrant 
imitation. This is all of a piece with the action noted in 
the town records: "Mr. Cornish shall be hired to teach 
all the children in the town to learn to read and write, 
and the townsmen are to hire him upon as reasonable 
terms as they can." Buy your teacher cheap Queues 
and knickerbockers and buckles and cocked hats may 
amuse us as ancient, but we are very like the first settlers 
on the money question. Get your teacher cheap. 

The singing of the church service has always had the 
attention of the church people. Frequent mention is 
made in the old records of appropriations for the im- 
provement of the singing, and within the memory of 
some of you. Dr. Thomas Hastings, the eminent musi- 
cian and religious composer, father of the present Pro- 
fessor in Union Seminary, conducted a singing school 
in a small hall down town which was attended by seventy 
or more aspirants for choir honors. Later, the well- 



44 



known William B. Bradbury gave instruction. The fol- 
lowing is the list of the choir which sang in the old 
church and also gave their service when the present 
church was erected: WiUiam S. Lockwood, William D. 
Smith, Edward Smith, Edward C. Bissell, Thomas B. 
Butler, Joseph St. John, Moses O. Banks, William L. 
Quintard, Mrs. Hart, Alexander Smith, George Bissell, 
Samuel Seymour, Reuben St. John, George H. Randle, 
Horace G. Hyatt, Legrand Whitney, William Scribner, 
Storrs Hall, Charles Piatt, William K. Lewis, Lorenzo 
Hubbell, Juliette Betts, Eulalia Betts, Julia Lockwood, 
Elizabeth Lockwood, Mrs. William B. St. John, Frances 
Lyon, Mariett Lyon, Harriet Scott, Jane Collins, Mary 
Hyatt, Susan Scott, Elizabeth Scribner, Isabella Wilson, 
Jane Meeker, Mary Stuart, Sarah Hanford, The Misses 
Durant. A member of this choir mentioned the other 
day that their choir did not escape the troubles to which 
choirs are peculiarly subject; for as a result of the riv- 
alry of two aspirants for leadership, the entire choir re- 
fused to sing for some time, and the tunes were started 
by some of the deacons from among the congregation 
with the aid of the tuning fork ; imagine such a calamity 
to-day. St. James could hardly have imagined the con- 
ditions surrounding the modern church choir, or he 
would not have asked: "Doth a fountain send forth at 
the same place sweet water and bitter?" for chorus choirs 
always do just that ; sing chords, act discords. We may 
imagine, too, as a result of glances at the records that 
there were circumstances elsewhere that demanded tact. 
Much attention is paid to the proper seating of the con- 
gregation, and certain pews were jealously guarded. In 
1708, it is mentioned that the town voted Mr. Samuel 
Hays into the great pew to sit in upon public days, and 
the town voted Mrs. Hanford, the widow of the first 
pastor, into the pew with Mrs. Buckingham, the wife 
of the then pastor, all of which is suggestive of preroga- 
tives carefully insisted upon. Just imagine what would 
have happened had she gone without the warrant. One 
could hardly turn around except by vote. Perhaps pos- 
sible friction w'as thus provided for, as in that other pro- 
vision: '"The society by vote provide that the justices 
shall remove and sit with their wives." One wonders, 
in view of this gracious permission, whether the tithe- 
rnen (with which officers, by the way, we are still pro- 
vided) weren't needed to keep even the justices in order. 
These, then, are some of the conditions under which this 



46 



church grew. Time does not permit of my reviewmg 
each pastorate as I would like to review it, for each iiad 
its peculiar points of strength ; nor yet of mentioning 
many details of church life that might prove interestnig. 
These would necessarily include references to churches 
which have sprung from this church — or been largely 
recruited from it — Darien, Wilton, New Canaan, South 
Norwalk and Westport. Perhaps when our own cele- 
bration takes place a more elaborate review will seem 
advisable, and perhaps enough has been said to at least 
suggest the special points that interest us all. 

Our heritage is magnificent. We are to hand it down 
ennobled and beautified — not entirely, indeed — not so 
much by what we do as by the spirit of our endeavor. 
Our church history focuses at faithfulness. There is 
something better than reading history; it is making 
history. May we lay no chipped stones ; may Christ 
be the head of the corner. 




46 




AT THE GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

Rev. J. McClure Bellows spoke as follows: 

GOD, we have heard with our ears, and 
our fathers have declared unto us, the 
noble works that Thou didst in their 
days, and in the old time before 
them.'" — From the Litany. 

As one stands in the midst of this 
splendid latter day civilization, and 
looks back through the years that are 
gone, it is hard to realize the conditions and the atmos- 
phere of those days in which our fathers lived and moved. 
They were days of pecuhar hardships and perils, with 
naught else to sustain the founders of this, our common- 
wealth, than the vision of a distant day, when their 
descendants should build upon that which they, them- 
selves, had laid a superstructure, whose strength and 
light should command the respect and admiration of the 
world. How clear that vision was time has proved. The 
American nation stands to-day a mighty specimen of 
evolution from beginnings that are a pride and honor 
to the history that records them. Three forces especially 
distinguished the character of our forefathers : Frugality, 
simplicity, religion. To this latter force much of their 
heroic achievement is due. To them the Fatherhood of 
God was not a mere belief; it was the conviction that 
ruled their lives, that sustained them through hardship 
and peril, the conviction that filled them with confidence 
and hope in the future fruition of all they planned and 
did. In the power of that conviction they left home and 
kindred across the sea, to be led by the hand of God, as 
did Abraham, into a new and strange country. There, 
amid toil and privation, they struggled for a larger free- 
dom, an ideal commonwealth. How, to-day, do we, their 
descendants, justify their heroic sacrifice, their patient 
and noble laying of the foundations upon which our gov- 
ernment, our society, our church, rest? Alas, we have 
lost much of this spirit. Our government lacks sadly 
the stability and firmness of their noble character. Its 
indeterminate and unsettled condition breeds restlessness 
and crimes. Labor, capital and anarchy tear ruthlessly 
our civic fabric. Society is rank with the destroying in- 
fluences of gluttony, extravagance and immorality. The 
church languishes for lack of proper zeal. Philanthropy 

47 



is but half-hearted, and falls short of the Christian ideal. 
Men give, but give cautiously, and disproportionately of 
their wealth. The interview between the rich young 
man and the Master still remains a unique instance re- 
corded in Holy Writ. The cry, to-day, is "Back to the 
simplicity of the single-mindedness and Godly fear of 
our forefathers !" Back to the example of the life of the 
Son of God. the inspiration of which they so nobly 
caught and reflected in their patient and ever-glorious 
lives ! It is then that the nation, society and the church 
will have reached and grasped the true American ideal. 




48 




AT THE SOUTH NORWALK 
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 

EACON Nelson Dickerman gave a his- 
tory of the South Norwalk Congrega- 
tional Church, at the morning ser- 
vices, Sunday. He said: 

Standing on the steps at the main 
entrance to our present church, we 
face the site of The Old Well School 
House, where now stands our soldiers' 
monument. 

The second floor of this building was used as a 
prayer meeting and conference room by the members of 
the Norwalk Congregational Church, then residing in 
the lower part of the town. In this "conference room" 
was held, August nth, 1834, the first public meeting to 
consider the propriety of building a Congregational 
Church in the village of Old Well. On September 15th, 
1834, the subject was brought before the Norwalk 
Church in a communication, which said: "We have been 
for some time impressed with the importance of estab- 
lishing a place for the worship of Almighty God in the 
village of Old Well"; also, "Our own individual ac- 
commodation seems almost forgotten in the prospect of 
being instrumental in benefitting and saving souls from 
everlasting woe." 

Among other reasons given: "More than half of our 
population are neglectors of the appointed means of sal- 
vation"; and, "We feel we are called upon to make 
greater exertions to bring souls for whom Christ died 
under the influence of these means which God has ap- 
pointed for their salvation." 

At this meeting a committee was appointed to con- 
sider the matter, and reported to the church at a meet- 
ing held September 29th, "That in the opinion of this 
committee it is expedient that the people at the Old Well 
go forward and erect a house for the worship of the Most 
High among them and that it be done without any un- 
necessary delay." This opinion was adopted by a vote 
of the church. 

After the communion service on January 3, 1836, 
sixty-four members were dismissed to constitute the Sec- 
ond Congregational Church, of Norwalk. The first meet- 
ing of the newly-constituted church was held January 

49 



4, 1836, and the following persons were chosen deacons: 
John Bouten, who served twenty years, was instantly 
killed by a fall from the scafifold during the enlarging of 
the church in 1856; Daniel K. Nash, who served twenty- 
eight years, met death by a fall from a tree; also Ste- 
phen "G. Ferris, who after fifty-seven years of service, 
beloved by all the membership of the church, "fell 
asleep." James Warner was chosen clerk, ,and thus or- 
ganized their work was begun. Public worship was 
commenced February 14, 1836, in the conference room, 
and a Sunday school organized February 21, with Dea- 
con Stephen G. Ferris as superintendent. Their church 
buildmg, begun in the spring of 1835, was completed and 
opened for worship the last Sabbath in March, 1836. Its 
cost for the lot was $300, and for the building, $2,200, 
a total of $2,500. The two largest recorded subscrip- 
tions were for $100. Several who were unable to give 
money, gave materials, or day's labor, glad to aid the 
good work as they could. 

On April 16, 1836, the church extended a call to the 
Rev. James Knox to become its pastor. This he accepted 
only as a "stated supply." They were received into the 
Fairfield West Consociation, February 19th, 1839. 
During the first year but five were added to 
the church, but in the succeeding year, 1837, 
fifty-one were received in confession, and eleven 
by letter, a total of sixty-two. After deducting 
the loss by deaths, two, and by dismission to 
other churches, six, the membership was one hundred 
and twenty-three. 

The membership was almost stationary during the 
next five years, the loss by death and dismission about 
equaling the increase, and one year, 1839, the only year 
in the church's history, there were no additions. 

In 1843 the church again took a forward move- 
ment with the addition of thirty-one by confession 
and three by letter, and after deducting its losses had a 
membership of 140. The first fifteen years of the church's 
existence covered five pastorates, but the Rev. Francis 
C. Woodworth was the only one installed as pastor. The 
next two pastorates were much longer and showed a 
larger growth in membership and activities. 

In the early part of Rev. D. R. Austin's connection 
with the church the name was changed to "The Congre- 
gational Church, of South Norwalk," and a debt of $800 
was paid. 



60 



In 1856 the church was enlarged, so as to nearly 
double its seating capacity, a bell and organ were secured 
and a general advance was made in the equipment for ag- 
gressive service. Under Mr. Austin's guidance the young 
people of the church were organized into working 
bands, and a Sunday school was organized on the hill on 
the West Xorwalk road. The scholars met out of doors 
in pleasant weather, and in Mr. Bates' house at other 
times, and later in Samuel Seymour's barn. Another 
Sunday school was organized in East Norwalk near the 
tide-mill. A third was organized in the Ely Neck road, 
for which a rude structure was erected. In connection 
with the Sunday school work, prayer-meetings were held 
and a general interest in religious work stimulated. Dur- 
ing this ministry of fifteen years the membership of the 
church was advanced from 162 to 264. 

The pastorate of Rev. Homer N. Dunning, extend- 
ing from 1866 to 1883, seventeen years, is the longest of 
any with our church. 

In 1876 we celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the 
church. This was also the year of the great revival and 
as a result 118 were added to our church on profession. 
Following this revival the Y. P. S. C. E. was organized 
and has been a power for Christian growth among our 
young people. 

The Sunday school increased in attendance and help- 
fulness, and the religious life of the church and com- 
munity greatly benefitted. The additions to the church 
brought the membership from 246 to 416. 

Between the pastorates of Rev. H. N. Dunning and 
of Rev. James H. Ross, his successor, a chapel was built 
on the church property and was used for a portion of the 
Sunday school, for prayer meetings, and social gather- 
ings, and proved a very helpful addition to efficient 
church work. The pastorate of Mr. Ross was short, only 
four and a half years. During this time occurred the 
50th anniversary of the church. This was fittingly ob- 
served by services on the Sabbath, and a social gathering 
on Monday evening. A very pleasant feature was the 
Unio'U Communion service of the Norwalk Congrega- 
tional Church with us on Sunday afternoon, conducted 
by the pastors of the Norwalk and South Norwalk Con- 
gregational Churches, and the elements distributed by 
the deacons of the two churches. 

This service was so highly appreciated that for sev- 
eral years a similar one was held, alternating between 

61 



the churches, marking the spiritual growth of the church. 
In 1887 sixty-one were received on profession, largely 
from the young people of the church and Sunday school. 
The church membership was increased from 416 to 497 
during the pastorate of Mr. Ross. The movement for a 
new church building, started during the early part of 
Mr. Dunning's pastorate, and earnestly advocated by 
him, took definite form during Mr. Ross's ministry. 

The old church property was sold, a generous sub- 
scription raised, a new site was purchased and ground 
broken for the new structure May 31, 1888. The laying 
of the foundation was begun July 25th. The comer slone 
was laid October 24, 1888. Hon. John H. Ferris, chair- 
man of the building committee, was master of cere- 
monies. Addresses were made by Rev. Edward Ander- 
son, pastor of the Norwalk Congregational Church ; Rev. 
H. A. Delano, pastor of the Baptist Church; Rev. 
Charles E. Harris, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church ; Rev. J. A. Biddle, of Hartford, to whom we 
had extended a call to become our pastor, and Frank A, 
Ferris, then of New York. 

Deacon Stephen G. Ferris laid the comer stone, 
using a silver trowel. The new church was completed 
and worship begun the last Sunday in December, 1889. 
The dedication was early in January, 1890. Rev. Jacob 
A. Biddle accepted our call and began his work with us 
in November, 1888, and aided us in making good use 
of the impulse given to our religious interest by the 
removal to our new church. Ill health limited the activ- 
ities to which his earnest spirituality prompted him, and 
he resigned in April, 1891. 

The pastorate of Rev. Gerald H. Beard, Ph.D., be- 
gan October i, 1892. A young man, well equipped for 
the ministry by natural qualifications and educational ad- 
vantages, to this, his first charge, he gave himself 
unreservedly. He was a preacher of unusual strength 
and a worker of excellent executive ability. He 
strengthened the organized work of the church, and 
added to it until it included all classes of the members of 
the church and congregation, including The Men's Sun- 
,.day Club; The Woman's Missionary Association, with 
its charity and visiting committees ; The Y. P. S. C. E., 
including an Intermediate and Junior organization ; 
three circles of King's Daughters ; one circle of King's 
Sons. A most helpful service was rendered the young 
people and the children of the church by the pastor's 



59 



classes for instruction, in which church membership and 
Christian living was presented in simple form. The value 
of this work was apparent in those who came before 
the church committee for admission to the church. Dr. 
Beard's pastorate was terminated by a call to the College 
Street Congregational Church, Burlington, Vt. The pre- 
sent pastor, Rev. Paul M. Strayer, began his work with 
us January ist, 1901. The favorable beginning of this 
ministry argues well for its success. 




68 



AT TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
OF SOUTH NORWALK 




Rev. Romily F. Humphries, of this church, spoke 

as follows: 

NE law of the kingdom of God is ex- 
tension, or, to use a word made 
familiar to us to-day by happenings of 
state, expansion. That is the mission- 
ary spirit. Trinity church. South Nor- 
walk, was the result of expansion. On 
September 5, 1858, a number of par- 
ishioners of St. Paul's, Norwalk, 01- 
ganized "a Missionary and Benevolent Society for the 
purpose of establishing services of the church and build 
a chapel for that purpose," in South Norwalk. The fol- 
lowing ol^cers were elected: Rev. William Cooper Mead, 
D. D., president ex-officio ; John H. Smith, vice-presi- 
dent; F. St. John Gibbs, secretary; Charles F. Osborn. 
treasurer. According to records of St. Paul's parish, Al- 
fred H. Camp was elected secretary, but according to 
letter dated September 5, 1859, ^^^ attested by secretary 
of the meeting, F. St. John Gibbs was elected to the office 
of secretary. 

A piece of ground was bought for $1,163.37, ^^^ 
paid for. Two-thirds of this land was reserved for future 
sale in the hope that it would soon be worth the cost of 
the whole. At the time of sale it brought $2,500. 

On March 23, i860, it was resolved to proceed at 
once to erect a chapel at South Norwalk, with the very 
positive understanding that when the chapel should be 
furnished and ready for use it should be free of debt. 
Unfortunately Trinity parish has more than once felt the 
pressure of debt, but this spirit of our fathers has not 
been lost ; it is the grain, so to say, to-day, and is a 
worthy inheritance. With the rector. Dr. Mead, were 
associated John H. Smith, Jonathan Camp and Charles 
F. Osborn as building committee. The final report of 
this committee was submitted July 15, 1861. The corner 
stone had been laid on May 9, i860, by the Rt.-Rev. 
John Williams, assistant bishop of Connecticut, and the 
chapel consecrated by him on May 7, 1861. John H. 
Smith and D. H. Webb were appointed general super- 
visors of all minor afifairs of the chapel. The Rev. Thom- 

64 



as Edward Pattison, curate of St. Paul's church, Nor- 
vvalk, was placed in charge of the services. Prior to the 
erection of Trinity chapel services had been held in Ely's 
hali, South Norwalk, when, on July 8, 1859, the initial 
steps were taken toward the organization of the Mission- 
ary and Benevolent society. 

For the next six years the history of Trinity chapel 
is the record of a growing mission faithfully watched 
and sustained by the mother parish. But now the young 
child began to be conscious of its own strength; it still 
desired some of the fostering income, but suggested that 
it could dispense with parental control. 

In 1867 Dr. Mead, Joseph W. Hubbeil, Samuel E. 
Olmstead and Winfield S. Hanford were appointed a 
committee to take the stature of this ambitious child and 
judge if she could walk alone. This committee reported 
adversely. In "numbers and in some other respects" the 
members of the chapel were not judged strong enough 
for separate and independent parish life. Probably had 
they been strong enough "in some other respects" their 
deficiency in numbers would not have defeated their am- 
bition. However, the committee hoped "that the time 
is not far distant when these conditions will be met, and 
then it is not doubted that the parent will give sympathy 
and liberal aid." Nothmg daunted the chapel worship- 
pers declared in the following year that they had grown 
and were anxious to try their strength. The parish of 
St. Paul's heeded this cry and voted that the growth and 
prosperity of the church in South Norwalk would be 
furthered if the chapel should become independent. The 
gentlemen of Trinity chapel responded, expressing pleas- 
ure at the vote and desiring to be set free, with their 
chapel property intact, that they might proceed "to or- 
ganize a new parish at South Norwalk in the town of 
Norwalk for the worship of Almighty God according 
to the forms, rites and usages of the Protestant Episcopal 
church." 

This communication was read at a parish meeting 
of St. Paul's, April 5, 1868, and on motion of SamueJ 
Lynes, consent was given for the foundation of a new 
parish, and Charles F. Osborn, treasurer of the parish, 
was authorized to convey the chapel property to the new 
corporation when all ecclesiastical and state requirements 
were satisfied. 

On April 7, i863, the new organization was formed 
and the Episcopal society of Trinity church. South Nor- 



walk, became independent of the mother parish with the 
following corporate members: Winfield S. Hanford, El- 
birt A. Woodward, Walter C. Quintard, Burr Knapp, 
Lemuel A. Austin, Charles R. Bennett, Ira F. Hoyt, 
Robert I. Tolles, Edgar B. Hoyt, Edward D. Cornell, 
John H. Smith, Benjamin F. Wilcox, Alfred Chichester, 
Thomas Wilcox, Henry C. Ely, Henry R. Fitch, A. L. 
Vanderbilt, Stephen S. Hatch. E. A. Curtis, Samuel 
Waters, David H. Webb, Isaac N. Smith, Henry R. Gil- 
man, Edwin Grumman, William S. Knapp, George A. 
Kecler, Walter D. Smith and Royal D. Higgins, M.D. 
E. A. Woodward was elected clerk of the parish. Win- 
field S. Hanford was the first senior warden, which office 
he held until 1882. John H. Smith was elected junior 
warden, was re-elected each year until 1882, when he be- 
came senior warden. This office he held until his death 
in 1895. 

The first vestrymen were: David H. Webb, Lem- 
uel A. Austin, Edgar B. Hoyt, A. L. Vanderbilt, Burr 
Knapp, John H. Smith was elected treasurer. The Rev. 
Curtis T. Woodruft' resigned the curacy of St. Paul's, 
Norwalk, to become the first rector of Trinity church. 
He was called April 13, 1868, and resigned April 21, 
1870. The record of the next four rectorships may be 
passed by with brief notice. It is a history 
of ups and downs. Pastors worked faithfully 
and people responded with loyalty and devotion. If some 
days were not so bright and hopeful as others, still priest 
and people worshipped and worked in earnest service, 
they planted and watered in faith that God would give 
the increase. 

The Rev. William G. Spencer, D.D., accepted a call 
to the rectorship September 21, 1870, and remained until 
May 8, 1882. A rectory was built for Dr. Spencer, 
which, with the lot on which it stood, was sold later when 
the parish was in need of fimds. The Rev. George P. 
Hebbard became rector in July, 1882, and resigned No- 
vember 30, 1885. The Rev. Thomas Bell was called 
January 28, 1886, and resigned charge September 19, 
1887. 

An interval of more than seven years elapsed before 
another rector was called. The Rev. Olin Hallock ac- 
cepted a call May i, 1888, and resigned on account of ill 
health June i, 1895. On October 28, of the same year, 
the Rev. F. W. Norris became rector. His resignation 
was accepted to take effect June i, 1900. The rectorship 



66 



of Mr. Norris was one of re-organization, strengthening 
and enlargement. So far back as 1890, Miss Katherine 
Atherton started a building fund for a new church build- 
ing, but it remained for Mr. Norris to institute the new 
movement and carry it to completion. Under his ad- 
ministration the church grew in numbers and "in some 
other respects" so that in the summer of 1899, it was 
ready to proceed at once to enlarge the church building. 
The following gentlemen were appointed a building com- 
mittee: S. C. Palmer, G. C. Stillson, R. H. Golden and 
Stephen S. Hatch. The work was completed at a totai 
cost of $11,606.26, all paid for when the committee sub- 
mitted its final report April 16, T900. The comer stone 
of the new church was laid on October i, eighteenth 
Sunday after Trinity, 1899, by the Rt. Rev. Chauncey 
Bunce Brewster, Bishop of Connecticut, and the new 
church consecrated by him May 26, 1900. The resigna- 
tion of Mr. Norris was most reluctantly accepted, April 
27th, 1900, when resolutions appreciative of "his splen- 
did work in stimulating spiritual life" and promoting 
growth in numbers and financial strength." In August, 
1900, a marble altar was erected in honor of William 
Cooper Mead, D.D., founder of Trinity church, and 
placed in the sanctuary, a bequest from his daughter. 
The Rev. Romilly F. Humphries assumed charge as rec- 
tor November i, 1900. At Easter, 1901, the parish pre- 
sented a handsome marble and Caen stone reredos in 
memory of John H. Smith, whose life was so closely link- 
ed with that of the parish. The present wardens and 
vestrymen are: Senior warden, George C. Stillson; 
junior warden, Josiah N. Grumman; vestrymen. Col. 
Leslie Smith. William W. Lester, Philip N. Knapp, 
Minot S. Smith, David W. Raymond, Milford A. Giffin, 
Charles H. Aisthorpe and Edwin H. Mathewson; treas- 
urer. Col. Leslie Smith; clerk, Samuel W. Hoyt, Jr.; 
sexton, Robert H. Wood. It is true this record does not 
set forth what might be termed the inner life of Trinity 
Parish. Its influence as a church upon the community, 
its ministration to human lives, but these, no human rec- 
ords would be sufificient to show. Perhaps the best testi- 
mony is to be seen in its present outlook. Trinity church 
in its old life and in its new is aglow with desire to fulfill 
the wishes of her Master. 

God grant that as the day of Trinity Church con- 
tinue, so her strength may be sufficient for this service. 



67 



AT THE SOUTH NORWALK 
METHODIST CHURCH 




LARGE congregation gathered at the 
South Norwalk Methodist church, to 
attend the special celebration service. 
Rev. Walter W. T, Duncan delivered 
an able address on "A Brief Sketch of 
Methodism in South Norwalk." His 
text was Numbers xxiii., 23: "What 
hath God Wrought?" A digest of his 
remarks follow: 

"The very first of the original Methodists to visit 
New England was really one of that band of devout and 
scholarly young men in Oxford, England, called in de- 
rision The Holy club.' It was none other than the Rev. 
Charles Wesley, M. A. This, however, was before his 
experience of the Witness of the Spirit, without which 
Methodism would never have been the power it has be- 
come. It is therefore more correct to say that the first 
Methodist sermon in New England was preached thirty- 
six years later, viz.: 1772, when the Rev. Richard Bard- 
man, one of America's first Methodist missionaries, es- 
tablished a society in the city of Boston. But still later, 
in the year 1785, the Rev. William Black, the founder of 
Methodism in Nova Scotia, was on his way to Baltimore 
to attend the famous Christmas conference which organ- 
ized the Methodist Episcopal church. He stopped and 
preached the gospel somewhere in the neighborhood of 
Bridgeport, Conn. But still one more itinerant was 
destined to precede the great founder of Methodism in 
New England; it was the Rev. Cornelius Cook. His 
career was short — only two years. During one of them 
he preached at Norwalk. 

"We come now to Jesse Lee. He was the 'founder' 
because he gathered up the scattered fragments of Meth- 
odist labor and gave to them permanent form. The story 
of his first visit to Norwalk is this: It was Wednesday 
afternoon, the 17th day of June, 1789. At 4 o'clock a 
preacher on horseback appeared before the door of Heze- 
kiah Rogers. This gentleman was away and Lee made 
his desire known to Mrs. Rogers. He desired to preach 
in her house. She refused, explaining that her husband 
was absent. Lee asked the use of an old deserted build- 



58 



ing, or of the orchard. Being refused in all, he went out 
on the highway and proclaimed the message of free salva- 
tion from the text, 'Ye must be born again.' The recep- 
tion he received was cold, but no man was ever better 
fitted to carry the message of experimental religion to a 
people who, from their very training, were calculated to 
make most chilling the reception of such a preacher as 
he. He adds a word of comment which at once shows 
his sunny faith and mounts on prophetic wing: 'Who 
knows but I shall yet have a place in this town where I 
may lay my head?' 

"The first circuit formed in this section of country 
was known as the Fairfield circuit. It embraced a terri- 
tory which then had only few mxcmbers, and no regularly 
appointed pastor but which now has some twenty-three 
pastors and some six thousand members. 

'Tt was not, however, till Absolom Day, a Methodist 
convert from New York city, came to South Norwalk 
that Methodism really took root. He opened his house 
for preaching. But, noble-hearted, godly man that he 
was, he seemed destined to see the cause he loved de- 
cline and die; for despite the faithful preaching of the 
itinerants the field proved so barren of results that it was 
decided to abandon it as a preaching place. 

"But on the day selected for the last service, several 
persons received a religious awakening, a revival broke 
out which resulted in the bringing of Methodism at once 
into prominence and prosecution. Great difficulty was 
experienced in securing suitable accommodation. It was 
not until the year 1817 that the first church building was 
dedicated. In 1834 Norwalk became a separate charge 
and had a pastor of its own. In 1836 the first parsonage 
was built, the land having been given by Absolom Day. 
It was situated on what is now South Main street. This 
property was abandoned in the year 185 1, and the next 
year the present grounds purchased. The building pur- 
chased with it was used as a parsonage until sixteen years 
later the present building was substituted. 

"The second church building was erected in 1843 
during the pastorate of the Rev. Harvey Husted. Some 
thirteen years later while the Rev. Francis Baltome was 
pastor, the old edifice was enlarged and its seating ca- 
pacity increased to six hundred. In 1858 the Methodist 
church in Norwalk was established and although through 
this movement and the subsequent establishment of two 
Methodist Episcopal churches in the town of Norwalk 

so 



"Old First" lost many members, she has continued 
strong to this hour and brings forth blessed fruit in her 
old age. 

"In the evening Rev. Mr. Duncan gave the annual 
address to the firemen of South Norwalk and East Nor- 
walk. The church was filled to overflowing upstairs and 
down. About ninety firemen were in attendance in full 
uniform. They declared the service to be most instruc- 
ttve and enjoyable. Mr. Duncan made several additions 
to the historical data given in the morning in regard to 
Methodism in order that the record to be filed would 
be complete. The church was decorated with flags in 
keeping with the day. 



Qj 



60 



SKETCH OF ST. MARY'S 
PARISH (CATHOLIC) 




HE honor of being the first Catholics 
to settle in Norwalk belongs to Mich- 
ael Cooney and family who came from 
New York in May, 1828. Mr. Coo- 
ney was a hat dyer and lived near the 
dock on the east side of Water street. 
-William Donahoe followed with his 
family of six persons in 1829. Cle- 
ment Burns came later and four years later the families of 
Farrell Gillooly and of Brennan arrived. Father Mc- 
Dermott visited Norwalk semi-annually from 1832 until 
his transfer to Lowell in 1837, each time celebrating 
mass in the front room of Mr. Cooney's house. The next 
priest to visit Norwalk was Rev. James Smyth of New 
Haven. During his visits here he celebrated mass in 
various places, including a residence in Five Mile River. 
In 1848 a committee embracing Paul Bresnen, John 
Hanlon, John Foley, Terence Reynolds and Farrell Gil- 
hooly was appointed to fram.e a petition to Bishop Tyler 
for a resident priest. Accordingly, he appointed Rev. 
John Brady to Norwalk, with Stamford and other places 
nearby as dependencies. Father Brady began imme- 
diately to prepare for a church building. Both Protes- 
tants and Catholics contributed generously to the erec- 
tion of the edifice. An anecdote will illustrate the feel- 
ing of good will that prevailed among all classes. Paul 
Bresnen and Terence Reynolds were appointed the com- 
mittee to solicit aid from non-Catholics. The most in- 
fluential man in the town was the Rev. Dr. Mead of St. 
Paul's Episcopal church. He must be secured to head 
the list, said the committee ; so to him they went and, 
after making their business known, Dr. Mead, who 
knew the men very well, said, "Paul, how is it you come 
to me first? Why not go to the Congregational minis- 
ter. Dr. Hall?" Paul, who was always ready, promptly 
replied, "Well, Dr., we know you to be an ofifshoot from 
the parent stock." The Dr. took the list and headed it 
generously and was followed by Dr. Hall and many of 
the most influential citizens of the town. The church 
was completed in 185 1 and on January 28th of that year, 
it was dedicated by Bishop O'Reilly. In 1853, Father 



Brady was succeeded by Rev. ,E. C. Cooney, who re- 
mained only one year. Old residents remember him as 
specially zealous in promoting the temperance cause. 
Next came Rev. Hugh O'Reilly, whose pastorate lasted 
five years. On July iSth, 1859, Rev. John MulHgan, 
D.D., one of the most talented and promising clergymen 
in the Hartford diocese, assumed charge. He died Jan- 
uary I2th, 1862. He was succeeded by Rev. Peter A. 
Smith, who came here from East Bridgeport, who or- 
ganized a school and who began and completed the pres- 
ent church, excepting the spire. The corner stone was 
laid in 1869 and the edifice was dedicated in 1870. It 
cost $85,000 but there was an indebtedness of only $20,- 
000 when dedicated. It is a Gothic structure 60x130 
and has a seating capacity of 1,200 persons. Father 
Smith died December i6th, 1875, after a very successful 
pastorate. Rev. P. O'Dwyer succeeded in January, 
1876. His term of service was brief, though replete with 
works that redounded to the welfare of the parish. Rev. 
John Russell followed January 30th, 1878, He built St. 
Mary's Parochial School, purchased the convent and in- 
troduced the Sisters of Mercy from Meriden into this 
parish. His successor was Rev. Wm. J. Slocum, who 
came in 1883. He completed the church by the erection 
of a spire and also liquidated the indebtedness on the 
church to the joy of his parishioners. During his in- 
cumbency St. Mary's parish was raised to the dignity 
of a permanent rectorship. His successor in September, 
1895, was Rev. G. B. A. Dougherty, who remained one 
year. He was succeeded by the present rector (Septem- 
ber, 1901) the Rev. John Furlong, who began his ad- 
ministration October 12, 1896. Recognizing the im- 
portance of a place for social entertainments he purchas- 
ed a site opposite the church where he established the 
Catholic Club in 1897. 

Written for the Committee. 



88 




ST. JOSEPH'S (CATHOLIC) CHURCH 
OF SOUTH NORWALK 

Rev. William Maher, D. D., Rector. 

HE beautiful new church on South 
Main Street, the pride of the Catholic 
population of South Norwalk, and 
the object of admiration ' of the 
general community, has been the 
latest addition to the church edifices 
of the city. 

Its handsome brick facade and 
broad granite approaches, trimmed with brown stone, 
attract the attention of the stranger; who is surprised 
on entering the spacious building to find most superb- 
ly harmonious furniture and decorations. The 
stained glass windows, the chancel drapery, the statuary, 
the mural paintings, the "Way of the Cross,'' the 
paneled ceiling outlined in gold, the noble organ, the 
beautiful altars in white and cream and gold — all com- 
bine to form an exquisitely artistic interior. 

The color effect by day is superb, particularly when 
the morning sunlight is beaming through the rich 
opalescent glass of the great rosette window above the 
organ gallery, or in the later hours when the sun's rays 
gleam through the beautiful cathedral glass of the 
chancel lancet groups, consisting of the Crucifixion the 
Sacrifice of Abraham and the Sacrifice of Melchisedec. 
But surpassing the polychrome beauty by day of fresco 
and richly tinted light, is the dazzling loveliness of the 
church by night, when lit by the hundreds of electric 
lamps clustered around the capitals of the pillars and 
pillarettes and in chancel brackets, or hidden behind the 
great arch of the sanctuary and in the alcoves of the 
lateral shrines. 

Large congregations assemble at the Vesper ser- 
vices and for the lecture courses given by Dr. Maher 
on the Sunday evenings of the year, not only to listen to 
the choice music and the historical and doctrinal ad- 
dresses, but also to enjoy the strikingly elevating influ- 
ences of the beautiful illumination. 

St. Joseph's Church bears witness to the wonderful 
growth of Catholicity in the Norwalks in the last half 
century. In his historical address for the quarter mil- 
lenial celebration of the town, entitled "The Catholic 
Church in the Norwalks in the Latter Half of the 19th 



Century," the Rev. Rector recalled for the benefit of the 
large congregation that packed the church for the occa- 
sion the leading facts in the foundation and progress of 
the Catholic faith here in our midst. 

It is indeed surprising that from the handful of a flock 
of twenty-five souls, a little more than fifty years ago, 
when a clergyman visited the little colony about every six 
months, the Catholic population has expanded to the 
number of 5,000 in the Twin Cities, forming two pros- 
perous parishes, served by three clergymen, and enjoy- 
ing all the religious and educational advantages of their 
belief. 

The first church edifice erected by the Catholics of 
the town was built in 1850, and dedicated by Bishop 
O'Reilly, second bishop of the Hartford Diocese, on Jan, 
28, 185 1. It has since been known as "St, Mary's 
Chapel," The present stately edifice on West Avenue, 
was dedicated in 1870 at a cost of $85,000, of which 
amount only $20,000 were unpaid on the auspicious 
occasion. 

In September, 1895, St. Joseph's parish was founded, 
and the division of the Catholics of the two Norwalks 
into separate congregations was effected. The first pas- 
tor of the new flock was Rev. John T. Winters, who 
purchased the present site of church and rectory, and 
began the construction of the present building. The 
corner stone was laid on April 4, 1897, by Rt. Rev. 
Bishop Tiemey ; and the preacher on the occasion was 
the present rector, Rev. Dr. Maher, who chose for his 
subject ''The Living Voice of the Church." His address 
was a powerful exposition of the credentials of the 
Catholic Church, and made a very deep impression on 
the immense throng of nearly 10,000 people to whom it 
was addressed. 

At Easter, April 3, 1899, Dr. Maher succeeded to 
the pastorate of St. Joseph's, and at once took up the 
work of completing the church. The dedication took 
place on Decoration Day, 1900, and there were present 
from the Diocese and neighboring States no less than 
125 clergymen. 

The Catholics of South Norwalk have earned the 
good-will and esteem of all classes and creeds. Politi- 
cally divided between the two great parties, they are 
socially the peers of their neighbors, and recognized in- 
tellectually as influential elements in the population of 
the city. 

M 




St. Joseph's (Catholic) Church. 



FIRST METHODIST CHURCH 
OF NORWALK 




HE services at the Norwalk Methodist 
church were of a purely historical 
character. Special prayers were said 
for the president and the latest bulletin 
stating his condition was read. After 
a brief introduction the pastor, Rev. 
H. B. Munson, gave the following 
statement of the church's history: 
Few things are more graphic than the startling con- 
trasts of history. A single passenger on a sailing vessel 
bound for Georgia amazed and impressed by the religious 
courage of a band of Moravians determined to know for 
himself the certitude of the things to be believed. The 
year 1735 and the passenger John Wesley. That is the 
genesis not only of American Methodism, but of the 
world wide movement of the Evangelical Revival, and 
of the far greater moral and religious uplift that came to 
all the forces of civilization from the work of this one 
leader. The little band of Moravian missionaries builded 
better than they knew when they wrought on the heart 
of John Wesley. But what could be more startling than 
the contrast between the feeble beginning and the pres- 
ent status of Methodism, now the most numerous of all 
the Protestant denominations. A contrast equally as 
startling and more pertinent in that it Hes around us. 
As can be seen by noting the early history of Methodism 
in our own town and its growth through the years 
since its introduction. 

Norwalk was already more than a century old be- 
fore a Methodist minister appeared on its streets. 
Judged as Americans judge age the town might have 
been callled ancient ; its forests were cleared ; its hillsides 
were tilled; its roads well beaten; its social and com- 
munal religious life well settled. Like all other towns 
in the same region its traditions were fixed and honored 
with most scrupulous observance. The old Puritans 
held first to the doctrinal decrees and to tradition and it 
was oftentimes difficult to tell which was most tena- 
ciously adhered to and honored. He might occasion- 
ly doubt one of the decrees but a well established tra- 
dition was, like the honored guest, given the place of 



highest honor. The doctrines he held may be briefly 
said to have been the five points of Calvinism, and the 
traditions those of the orderliness and regularity of the 
services of the church and the operations of sovereign 
grace. Their church and her decrees were a part of their 
town government. Their churches were built, their 
ministers settled and supported, their schools and col- 
leges established according to law; and a tax was laid 
on the people to sustain their institutions in conjunction 
with their civil institutions. In thus provding for the 
support of the parish church, they took care to guard 
against the introduction of other sects, as far as they 
could, simply tolerating them in holding meetings, while 
they were abridged in many of their rights. According 
GAL lo. vbgkqj cmfwyp shrdlu etaoinnnnn 

to these reglations all citizens were members of the 
Congregational church, and obliged to pay their pro- 
portion of the support of the church unless they lodged 
a certificate with the town clerk that they had attached 
themselves to some other society. 

The very appearance of a Methodist preacher was a 
challenge to both doctrinal decrees and the traditions of 
any New England community; for in place of the five 
points of Calvinism he brought the counter points of Ar- 
minianism, and instead of heeding inviolable customs he 
violated ruthlessly all of the observed order of proce- 
dure. He cared for no meeting house ; a wayside tree, a 
grove of them, or a small cottage were all he expected 
or desired, if ten or twenty persons could there hear the 
word of God. There is no desire to rehearse the story 
of the old controversy waged with such bitterness over 
this New England field, nor to narrate the modifications 
which time has brought to both parties of the contest. All 
that is past and both parties are devoutly glad that it is. 
It is sufficient for our purpose this morning to note that 
the place where Methodism first flung its challenge to 
the dominant creed lies within our own city limits, and 
that the pioneer preacher was Jesse Lee. 

On the 17th of June, 1789, Jesse Lee preached his 
first sermon in New England at Norwalk, Conn. The 
difficulties he encountered at the outset were characteris- 
tic of the community, and were met by his characteristic 
persistence. He writes in his diary, under date of 
Wednesday, June 17, 1789, "I set off to take a town 
farther into Connecticut than any of our preachers have 
beeii. I am the first that has been appointed to this state 



M 



by the conference. I set out with a prayer to God for a 
blessing on my endeavors and with an expectation of 
many oppositions. 

"At four o'clock in the afternoon he arrived at Nor- 
walk and applied for a private house to preach in but 
was refused. He then asked for the use of an old de- 
serted building in sight, but was again refused. He pro- 
posed to preach in a neighboring orchard but was still 
refused. He took his stand at last, under an apple tree 
on the public road, surrounded by twenty hearers. After 
singing and praying, he says, I preached from John HI., 
7: 'Ye must be born again.' I felt happy that we were 
favored with so comfortable a place. After preaching I 
told the people I intended to be with them again in two 
weeks ; and if any of them would open their houses to 
me I would be glad; but if they were not willing we 
would meet in the same place. Who knows but I shall 
yet have a place in this town where I can lay my head?" 
(See Stevens's history). 

The apple tree referred to stood at the corner of 
Main street and North avenue, near where the water tank 
is now placed. Mr. Lee proceeded in his work till he 
formed a regular circuit including the towns of Norwalk, 
Fairfield, Stratford, Milford, Redding, Danbury and 
Canaan. In this circuit the oldest society was Stratford, 
Redding was second. The first Methodist church in 
New England was built in the town of Weston and call- 
ed in honor of the pioneer Lee's chapel. (The building 
was rebuilt in 1813. Authority for above, Bangs's His- 
tory, Vol. I, pages 286-93.) It is not known when the 
Norwalk society was first formed, probably not later than 
1790. The services of the society were held for several 
years in the red school house in South Norwalk, in 1816. 
The first building was erected on the site at present occu- 
pied by the new church at South Norwalk. From this 
time the growth of the society was rapid and in 1834 the 
appointment was changed from a circuit, or a part of one, 
to a station. The next date which claims our attention, 
as marking an epoch in the Methodist history in this 
place is 1858. It was in this year that the Methodists 
living in this part of the town drew away from the parent 
society, and formed the organization of what is known 
legally as the Second Methodist Episcopal church of 
Norwalk, but is commonly spoken of as the uptown or 
Norwalk church. 

There had been for some years preceding the date 

«7 



last mentioned, a feeling that this was a goodly land and 
that we, as good Methodists, ought to go in and possess 
it. But how or when best to do it was the question that 
seemed to baffle the minds of those who most pondered 
it. The way was shown finally and the propitious time 
came and as we look back at it from this vantage place 
we can see that both the way and the time were provi- 
dential. An unknown but conscientious hostman writ- 
ing in the church records, records the fact in these 
words: "The division, which must inevitably have come, 
was hasLened by certain irritating circumstances which 
occurred during the pastorate of Geo. C. Creevy and 
caused his removal, and the appointment of Hart F. 
Pease in the spring of 1858." The meaning of that 
diplomatic phase "irritating circumstances" there are 
many here who well remember, sufficient it is for our 
purpose to note that on the first Sabbath of the new con- 
ference year, April 25, 1858, a meeting was held in 
"Phoenix Hall," which stood on the South side of Wall 
street, east of the bridge. The preacher was Dr. Asa 
Hill, the text Phil, i :29, "For unto you it is given in the 
behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to 
suffer with him." At this service 96 persons gave their 
names as desiring to unite with the new uptown society 
and two committees were appointed, one on place of 
worship consisting of Piatt Price, D. W. Nash, G. P. 
Adams, David Betts, Sherman Cole, George T. Brady 
and S. R. Bunting and one on Sunday school, George T. 
Brady, George W. Selleck, S. iH. Holmes and Daniel 
Fitch. 

At the second service of tliis day E. J. Peck, a local 
preacher, spoke from Pro. HI., 6: "In all thy ways," etc., 
and twenty more entered their names for the purpose of 
forming a society. 

The meetings were held in the hall above mentioned, 
in private houses and in a barn fitted with temporary 
benches. 

The first officers of the society when it was formed 
by the presiding elder, E. E. Griswold, were as follows: 

Preacher in charge — Dr. Asa Hill. 

Trustees — David Nash, George W. Selleck, George 
T. Brady, Gerardus P. Adams, Piatt Price, Sherman 
Cole, Samuel R. Bunting. 

Stewards — Nathan D. Beers, David Betts, Silas B. 
Meeker, George Nash, Joseph B. Scribner. 

08 



Class Leaders^G. P. Adams, Garrett Haulenbeck, 

Albert Morehouse, David Betts, Daniel Fitch. 

The Sunday school superintendent — Garrett Hau- 
lenbeck. 

Efforts were at once put forth to secure a site for a 
church building and the committee. Dr. Asa Hill, Piatt 
Price and Sherman Cole, bought for the society the 
ground on which the church now stands for $i,6oo and 
within a month thereafter a building committee consist- 
ing of Dr. Hill, Albert Morehouse and Garrett Haulen- 
beck was appointed with power. 

Plans drawn by Tappan Reeve, of Brooklyn, archi- 
tect, were approved and the contract for building let to 
Thomas W. Lowe, of Brooklyn. Work was begun in 
November, 1859. ^^^ building was raised and enclosed 
and rapidly approaching completion, when an unlocked 
for calamity befell the society in the destruction of the 
church by a terrible gale which occurred February 10, 
i860. 

"This calamity fell very heavily upon the builder, 
but the brethren consented to piay him $2,500 extra, for 
which he agreed to go forward and complete the build- 
ing according to the original contract." 

The dedicatory services, lipon the completion of the 
structure, were held December 6, i860, Bishop Janes, 
Dr. Bartine, of Philadelphia, and Dr. Wakely, of New 
York, preaching the sermons. 

No estimate of the sacrifice and devotion which ren- 
dered this achievement possible, would be at all adequate 
that did not give discriminating but generous praise to 
the leaders and the whole company of believers. They 
all worked and prayed and gave time, worry and devotion 
that this building might be commissioned for its work. 
Those were days in which few or none came singing "I 
pray thee have me excused." It is not because we are 
mindful of this devotion that we single out for mention 
the work and name of one man. He it was who like the 
great Hebrew of old, piloted the people of God through 
their wanderings and brought them to their fixed habita- 
tion. Dr. Hill, consecrated lay-preacher that he was, and 
the church's first pastor, laid the foundation in more 
senses than one. and all the pastors who have come since 
have but built on his foundation. Better cannot be said 
of him than to repeat the resolution passed by the officials 
of the church at the termination of his pastoral work. 

"Resolved: By the joint board of leaders, stewards, 

69 



and trustees of the Second M. E. church of Norwalk, that 
as a church we are under obHgations to Dr. Asa Hill, 
which we can never repay, for his active faithfulness, and 
successful labors, by which have been secured to us so 
large and flourishing a church, and so fine a house in 
which we and our children and our children's children 
can worship the living God; and as the official board of 
said church, vt^ hereby present to Dr. Hill our sincere 
and hearty thanks for his untiring and gratuitous ser- 
vices in securing these highly outward results." 

Dr. Hill continued to serve the church and Sunday 
school and other work till his death on December 20, 
1874. 

The list of pastors with the dates of service follows: 

Asa Hill, 1858—60, 

Nathaniel Mead, 1861 — 2. 

Samuel H. Smith, 1863 — 5. 

J. S. Breckenridge, 1866— -S. 

I. Simmons, 1869 — 71. 
. John Pcgg, 1872—3. 

R. W. Jones, 1874—6 

C. S. Williams, 1877—78. 

C. S. Wing, 1879—81. 

W. H. Thomas, 1882—84. 

H. D. Weston, 1885. 

W. W. Clark, 1886—7. 

George VanAlstyne, 1888 — Q2. 

A. K. Wvatt, i8q3— 96. 

F. A. Scofield, 1897—8. 

S. L. Beiler, 1899. 

H. A. Munson, 1900. 

The list includes 17 names, of whom 6 are 
dead and the rest, with the exception of Brother Smith, 
are still in the active work of the ministry. 

Of the various characteristics of those pastorates it 
is needless that I should speak in detail. The work of 
the church has moved along on strictly Methodist lines, 
true to the genius of our faith. Revival after revival 
has passed through our church, and hundreds have 
bowed at her altars in contrition for sin. Her growth 
has been steady from the little band who initiated the 
movement to the present membership which is the largest 
of any Protestant church in the township. We say this 
not in the spirit of boasting, but rather humiliated by 
the consciousness of how much more might have been 
done and with a clear vision of the vastness of the work 

70 



that lies still at our hands. The record of these years 
if they lead to congratulation ought to lead to consecra- 
tion; if they show what God hath wrought ought also 
to show what is of great value, and that is that our 
church history is not made, but rather in the making 
and that we are the inheritors of a church and its prop- 
erty, whose value lies in the God given work for our 
community that can yet be exercised by the spirit and 
controlled by the mind of Christ 

Our ecclesiastical history may not date as far back 
on the calendar as some of our sister churches. Let us 
give them honor for the work they have done and let 
us remember that the future belongs to both them and 
us till we all come in a unity of faith, and of the knowl- 
edge of the Son of God, — and grow up unto Them, in 
all things, which is the head, even Christ. 




n 




GRACE CHURCH, NORWALK, CONN. 

|N the early Spring of 1890 a petition 
was presented to the Bishop and 
Standing Committee of the diocese of 
Connecticut asking for the organiza- 
tion of a new parish in the town of 
Norwalk. This petition was signed by 
one hundred and twenty-five persons, 
including a number of the prominent 
communicants of St. Paul's Church. 

The ground for such action was the sincere convic- 
tion that there was great need of another parish in the 
central part of the borough, and that the time had come 
when "a daughter" might, without disloyalty or injury 
to the "mother," go out and establish jher own house- 
hold. 

On Sept. i6th, the Standing Committee, with the 
hearty approval of the bishop, gave unanimous consent 
to the formation of the parish, which decision was based 
on their judgment that a separate organization would be 
far better than a chapel. 

On September 24th, Grace Church parish was legal- 
ly formed, Messrs. A. C. Golding andW. H. Smith were 
elected wardens ; Gould Hoyt, clerk ; Levi Warner, agent, 
and Chas. F. Osborn, Robert Van Buren, W. F. Bishop, 
T. vS. Morrison, G. W. Cram and Wm. Lockwood, ves- 
trymen. To this number were afterwards added Messrs. 
W. S. Moody, Jr., C. W. Many and W. E. Montgomery. 

The Hon. James W. Hyatt was made treasurer, with 
Mr. W. E. Montgomery as his assistant. 

A subscription paper was immediately started, and 
a building committee appointed. They had plans pre- 
pared by Messrs. Thayer and Wallace, of Brooklyn, and 
recommended that the parish purchase the Belden prop- 
erty on the angle of Belden avenue and Cross street. 

This site was finally chosen, the fine old house was 
removed, and ground was broken for the church about 
the tenth of November. 

The work was rapidly pushed forward during the 
winter under the direction of Mr. A. C. Golding, and the 
building was completed on April 20th. In the mean- 
time the ladies had organized a guild and were busy in 
raising funds for the furniture. They gave, in all, to this 
object, $1,300. 

78 



The church is, in many respects, an ideal one for a 
rural town. Its situation is exceptionally beautiful. The 
building, constructed entirely of wood, is shingled from 
peak of tower to foundation, with an interior finish of 
ash and southern pine. The ground plan is cruciform, 
8g ft. long, and 48 1-2 ft. wide across the transepts. The 
nave is 54x25 ft. The choir (25x12 ft.) is outside of the 
chancel arch, raised three steps above the main floor, and 
the sanctuary (13x10 ft.) is formed by the organ chamber 
and vestry room. An ambulatory, now used as choir 
vestry, extends across the church, back of the chancel. 
Over the intersection of nave and transepts the large 
square tower rises to the height of 45 ft. affording light 
and ventilation from twenty small windows. The bap- 
tistry is in the west transept near the choir. The chan- 
cel furniture and stalls are of oak ; the pews of ash. The 
altar stands as a memorial of Margaret and Amelia Bel- 
den, the former owners of the parish property. The solid 
silver communion service is given in memory of Edwin 
and Eliza S. Hoyt by their children. Other special gifts 
are the brass cross, vases and altar desk, the credence 
table, the font, alms basins, hymn board and alms boxes. 

The organ has two manuals and sixteen stops. In 
construction, quality of tone and power, it is a splendid 
and thoroughly satisfactory instrument. 

The windows are of stained glass, in simple designs 
and bright colors. 

The approach is by broad steps to an open porch 
from which three doors give entrance to the nave. 

From this brief description it can be seen that, while 
in no sense pretentious, the church is complete in every 
detail and a model of good taste. 

The property, as it stands, is valued at $25,000. 
Current expenses are met by voluntary pledges, paid by 
the envelope system, and pews are assigned without ref- 
erence to the amount pledged. 

On February 17, 1891, the Rev. S. H. Watkins, of 
New Flaven, was elected rector, and entered upon his 
duties on April 27. On the evening of this day the bish- 
op dedicated the church, and preached from Psalm xcvi. 
6-9. A large congregation filled the building to over- 
flowing. The music was rendered by the vested choir 
under the leadership of Mr. J. H. Baker, of Bridgeport. 
The Rev. W. F. Watkins, D.D., of Philadelphia, Olin 
Hallock, of South Norwalk, and the rector assisted in 
the service. 

78 



The regular services were begun on the fifth .Sun- 
day the Sunday-school was organized, with eight teach- 
ers and forty-two scholars. 

The parish starts with a list of sixty-two families, 
eighty-seven communicants and 220 individuals — a very 
satisfactory "nucleus." But these figures fail to tell of 
the enthusiasm and zeal which give great promise of the 
steady growth and make the outlook most encouraging. 

At the recent convention of the diocese the parish 
was admitted into union with that body. 

Thus organized and equipped, the young "daugh- 
ter" in this old diocese and older parish begins her labors 
for Christ and His Church. 

The old house of post revolutionary times was,' as 
mentioned above, moved back forty feet from the rear 
of the church on Belden avenue. It has been thorough- 
ly renovated, restored in olden style and made over into 
a handsome and comfortable rectory. 

In the Spring of '92 Mr. N. Ferris took charge of 
choir after Mr. Baker left. 

In the summer of 1892 A. D. the Guild Room was 
built at a cost of about $1,000. 

Mr. H. Hills. Jr., became organist and choir master 
in the Fall of 1892. 

In May, 1894, Miss Jennie K. Nash succeeded Mr. 
Hills, and was succeeded in turn by Mr. Jas. F. Baker on 
May I St, 1897. 

Mr. Thos. S. Morison, Vestryman, died on April 
2 1 St, 1894. 

The entire debt of the Parish (some $7,800) was 
paid in September, 1896, and the property deeded to the 
Trustees of Donations and Bequests for Church pur- 
poses. The contributors were C. F. Osborn, $5,000; 
E. A. Woodward, $1,000; Robert and Louise Van Bu- 
ren, W. F. Bishop, T. S. Vanderhoef, Sophia Weed, M. 
C. Couch, S. H. and Helen R. Watkins, Goold Brush, 
L. N. Phinney, Munson Hoyt, Wm. Lockwood, Rebecca 
Matthews, E. K. Gregory, Mary Martin, A. R. Malkin, 
Miss Emily Mott, Miss Lizzie Hoyt, Miss Fannie Hoyt, 
Wm. H. Smith, Miss Florence Morison, Levi Warner, 
Wm. Butterworth, Miss Cornelia Camp, Albert Davis. 

Rev. S. H. Watkins resigned the rectorship on Feb- 
ruary 9th, 1897, and the same took effect on Easter Day, 
April i8th. 

Mr. Chas. F. Osborn, Vestryman, died on February 
25th, 1897. 



w 



Rev. Johnson McClure Bellows entered upon his 
duties, as rector, May 15th ,1897. 

Church consecrated by the Right Reverend Chaun- 
cey Burns Brewster, D.D., successor to the Rt. Rev. 
John Williams, D.D., assisted by the Rt. Rev. Ethel- 
bert Talbot, D.D., Bishop of Central Pennsylvania, 
Tuesday, June the twentieth. Eighteen Hundred and 
Ninety-nine. 

Parish house leased by Mrs. Chas. F. Osborn, Octo- 
ber 1st, 1900, being the house, No. 2, Belden Place, own- 
ed by Wallace Dann, Esq." 

The total number of families in Grace Parish, No- 
vember 1st, 1901, was 185 ; total number of persons, 530; 
total number of communicants, 316. 




78 



AT CHRIST 
CHURCH, 



EPISCOPAL 
WESTPORT 




EV. George Weed Barhydt, Rector, 
spoke as follows: 

In response to the request that 
came to us from the Committee on 
Literary Exercises for the 250th anni- 
versary of the incorporation of the 
town of Norwalk, of which town the 
portion of Westport that lies on the 
west side of the Saugatuck and south of the old Weston 
line, was a part for 184 of the 250 years, w^e have gladly 
joined with the people of that ancient town in hymns of 
thanksgiving and praise and have with sincerity prayed 
that its present and future may be consonant with so 
worthy a past. It is wise and pregnant with helpful re- 
sults to lay hold of with thoughtful minds the reverend 
history that comes down to us as our most precious herit- 
age. Of the town and nation as of the individual, it is 
true that honorable and noble standards of principle and 
conduct in the generations that have wrought and now 
rest from their labors, give birth to a noblesse-oblige 
that is all-controlling and can be ignored only with a loss 
of prestige and a degradation that is as sad as ruinous. 
The town of Norwalk has an honorable and noble past 
and we rejoice that the heritage is also ours as the ances- 
tors of the Westport people helped to win the glories that 
to-day crown this town's story. So we and especially 
Christ Church Parish have a rightful part in the rejoic- 
ings and thanksgivings of this memorable occasion. 

I am requested to address myself especially to a his- 
tory of this church and parish which begins chronologi- 
cally with the history of the separate town of Westport. 
But the men and women who formed this parish were 
children of old St. Paul's, whose training was received 
there and in the Christian homes of its parishioners and 
also in the public deliberations of the town and church 
afifairs. I think that the general and careful, although 
not always calm, discvission and examination of the rea- 
sons for and against any measure that took place in earl- 
ier times in town and parish councils had a larger influ- 
ence than is usually credited in the staunchness and in- 
dependence of character of the sturdy men and women 
who have left us, both townwise and churchwise, such 

76 



noble standards of sterling excellence of character and 
achievement. I desire to emphasize the fact that the 
foimding of our parish and the first generation of its life 
were the fruit of Norwalk life. It came from thence and 
ihilhcr shoukl go the honor and praise in God's name 
and from thence comes the noblesse-oblige that we, now 
no longer of X'orwalk but of Westport, should be true 
to a noble lineage and preserve in our day and transmit to 
the generations yet to come an integrity unyielding, a re- 
ligion pure and undefiled and the noble worship and 
liturgy of our fathers unimpaired. 

in the former days it was customary for many even 
to walk to and fro for divine service. Those were 
church going days and distance proved no obstacle. Is 
it not a subject for solicitude when we ponder on the 
paucity of good church people who to-day, eliminating 
the question of a pedestrial journey and considering 
the convenience of the trolley, would be found in their 
places each Lord's Day with the regularity that marked 
the church attendance of their hardy, pioneer ancestors, 
if the distance of three miles stretched between their 
abodes and the House of God? Yet this question of dis- 
tance determined the beginnings of the Church life in 
Saugatuck. x\s the population increased, the question 
of training the increasing number of children came up 
for a solution. It was a natural result that the rector of 
St. Paul's,. Dr. Sherwood, who had organized the first 
Sunday school in that parish, should inaugurate a simil- 
ar work in Saugatuck. The interest and enthusiasm 
manifested were in inverse proportion to the size of the 
school. This led to occasional services which with the 
sessions of the Sunday school were sometimes held in 
private houses but mostly in Shercrow school house that 
then stood, I am told, on "The Plain," as it was called 
between the present dwellings of Mr. Theodore Taylor 
and Mr. Wm. H. Marvin. A small itinerant parish and 
Sunday school library was inaugurated, housed in a 
large market basket and composed mostly of theological 
books of a controversial nature. (Some of these old 
books are still in the possession of the parish.) 

Such was the situation when the apostolic Kemper 
succeeded to the rectorship of St. Paul's in 183 1. The 
Congregationalists directly across the river in the town 
of Fairfield as early as 1831, began measures to separate 
from the Greens Farms Society and to organize "the 
Saugatuck Congregational Society of Westport," which 



was accomplished in May, 1835. Possibly the mission 
services and Sunday school held by the Rector of St. 
Paul's may have been instrumental in this action of the 
Congregational brethren. Certainly all such move- 
ments are infectious and we find, following the Congre- 
gationalists' move, the record of a meeting of Episco- 
palians at the house of Mr. William Nash, now the resi- 
dence of Mr. George A. Darrow, March nth, 1833, "to 
take into consideration the propriety of building an Epis- 
copal House of Public worship to be located on the 
west side of the Saugatuck river." As a result of the 
deliberations of this meeting ''it was deemed necessary 
that said house should be built and that a meeting be 
holden at this place on Monday the i8th of March to 
draw up a subscription for building the church which 
subscription to be binding provided the sum of $2,oou 
shall be subscribed." Several meetings followed but 
nothing much was done until May 13, when at a meet- 
ing held in the school house, Mr. Taylor Hurlbutt was 
appointed treasurer to receive the money subscribed and 
Messrs. Taylor Hurlbutt,, Daniel Nash, Jabez Adams, 
Isaac Adams, Dennis Nash, Edwin Wheeler, William 
Nash, Noah Nash and Philo W. Jones were elected a 
building committee. The plan and size of the building 
were left entirely to this committee. Of this meeting 
Mr. Taylor Hurlbutt was chairman and Mr. Robert Ray- 
mond, clerk. At a subsequent meeting Mr. Daniel Nash 
was made trustee to sign all necessary papers for the con- 
veyance of the land chosen whereon to build this new 
church. 

Most of the history of Christ church has been so thor- 
oughly exploited that little has been left to be said. But 
there is one matter in which there seems to be a misun- 
derstanding and, if so, a great wrong done to the mem- 
ory of Taylor Hurlbutt. I have been informed by the 
Rev. James E. Coley, grandson of Taylor Hurlbutt, and 
by others who were alive at the time of the building 
and conversant with the affairs of the building commit 
tee and who should know that the land on which the 
church was built was a free gift from Mr. Taylor Hurl 
butt. That the land was purchased by the society has 
several times of late been stated in print. One fact much 
in favor of the free gift is that in the minutes of the 
various meetings there is no discussion of a site or pur- 
chase price. Also at the meeting on June 10, a deed 
was presented and rejected ; the minutes read ''as no par- 



78 



ticular time was specified in the deed when the trustee, 
Daniel Nash, should quit-claim the land to the chturch" 
and that a new deed be procured to that effect. Mr. 
Coley has that rejected deed in his possession. It reads, 
"F, Taylor Hurlbutt of the town of Norwalk, etc., in 
consideration of love, g-ood will and affection, I hold and 
have towards the Protestant Episcopal church, to my 
full satisfaction, I do freely give, grant and convey unto 
Daniel Nash of said Norwalk to hold in trust for said 
Protestant Episcopal church, a certain piece of land ly- 
ing in Norwalk situate on the west side of the Saugatuck 
river, being a piece of land selected to build an Episcopal 
church thereon" — etc. A new deed was drawn up, the 
indenture made and agreed between Taylor Hurlbutt 
and Daniel Nash as trustee, June 13, and recorded in 
Norwalk in Book 25, page 169 on June 23d. This sec- 
ond deed reads, "I, Taylor Hurlbutt for the considera- 
tion of four hundred dollars received do give, bargain 
and convey, etc." This deed was accepted at a meeting 
held June 17th at the house of Mr. Philo W. Jones. It 
contains, however, a condition that if "within the term 
of two years a House suitable for the public worship of 
God agreeable to the Protestant Episcopal Faith" be 
not built and if " within six months after a society has 
been legally formed for the purpose of supporting the 
Protestant Episcopal worship in said house that said 
Nash, his heirs and assigns and without any other or 
further consideration than what he has already received 
by a proper and sufficient deed" do not "grant and con- 
vey to such society" said land the deed and conveyance 
shall be void. If after a lapse of over sixty years the re- 
corded deed gives a wrong impression by placing the 
value of the land thus in the deed, the facts should be 
fully brought out and clearly understood in order that 
Taylor Hurlbutt should receive the due credit for his 
generosity. 

There was an effort made to increase the amount 
already subscribed that the edifice might be of stone 
which was unsuccessful. The subscribers were 122 in 
number. Among the larger subscribers were: 

Isaac Adams $ 32.00 

Jabez Adams 50.00 

Matthew Camp 30 . 00 

Samuel M. Coley 35 -oo 

Taylor Hurlbutt 200 . 00 

Freelove Hurlbutt 75 • 00 

79 



Philo W. Jones 30-00 

Jackson Kemper 50.00 

Daniel Nash 1,000.00 

Dennish Nash 125 .00 Cash 

100 . 00 Labor 

George Nash 80.00 

Noah Nash 100.00 

William Nash 100.00 

Keeler Nash 50.00 

Charles Nash 50.00 

Henry Nash 30.00 

Lewis Partrick 50.00 

Lewis Raymond 65 . 00 

Robert Raymond 35-00 

Horace Staples 30.00 

Edwin Wheeler 40.00 

Joseph Wood 45-00 

Among the smaller gifts is one of $10 from E. H. 
Nash, who later became the generous benefactor that 
made this present commodious and beautiful plant a 
possibility. 

I cannot resist this opportunity to repeat the story 
of Daniel Nash's subscription, which I have heard Mr, 
E. H. Nash tell many times with great relish, although 
Mr. Selleck has recorded it in his book on the centenary 
of St. Pauls Church. It appears that after the first burst 
of generosity that the subscriptions came with less 
rapidity. But Dr. Kemper had no idea that his plans 
should fail. So as Daniel Nash warmed himself at the 
stove in old St. Paul's one chilly Sunday in the latter 
part of March, the good Doctor approached him, spoke 
of the pressing need of more money for the Saugatuck 
building fund and said: "Uncle Daniel, if you wall double 
your subscription, I will double mine." The faithful 
churchman followed the lead of his trusted and trust- 
worthy pastor, and so it came about that while Dr. 
Kemper gave $50, Daniel Nash gave the munificent 
amount for that time of $1,000. 

The corner stone was laid May 9th, 1834, by Bishop 
Brownell, assisted by Dr. Kemper, and the church con- 
secrated by the Bishop Nov. 2nd, 1835, in the 17th year 
of his consecration. The parish was legally organized 
in October, 1835. The church was furnished by the 
women of the parish at a cost of $133.45, 

I subjoin a description of the old church, given 
me by the Rev. Mr. Coley: 

eo 



"The old church Avas originally built with doors to 
the pews — a 'square body,' with side pews and two 
aisles. The pulpit was high, on a level with the top of 
the gallery, which extended around three sides of the 
church. The pulpit, reading desk and communion table, 
all stood one under the other with a circu- 
lar chancel rail of mahogany. The lamps on 
the pulpit and desk were the old 'astral,' and the 
cushions on pulpit and desk, and cover to the com- 
munion table (for it was a veritable four-legged table, of 
mahogany frame and legs) were covered with crimson 
silk damask. The first carpet on the church was a light 
felt with red and green figures, which was afterwards 
replaced by a more churchly pattern and style. The 
vestry room was originally built at the entrance, between 
the two doors, but the clergyman generally changed his 
robes in the little closet under the high pulpit, which was 
hardly large enough to turn about in. At a later period 
the pulpit was changed and finally taken away altogether 
and a new vestry room added to the rear of the church. 
The windows in this old church were immense. They 
consisted of three sashes, each containing thirty-six 
panes of glass, making one hundred and eight panes in 
every window — five windows on a side and two on the 
ends near the chancel " 

Dr. Kemper resigned the rectorship of St. Paul's, 
and was consecrated Missionary Bishop of Missouri and 
Indiana in September, 1835, and till February of the fol- 
lowing year Christ Church was supplied by the Rev. 
B. G. Noble, of Bridgeport. On Feb. 6th, 1836, the 
Rev. Edward Ingersoll was called to be the first rector 
of the parish. In 1836 Mr. Ingersoll reported fifty-eight 
families and forty-eight communicants and in 1839, sixty- 
three families and fifty-seven communicants. The Rev. 
Milliard Bryant succeeded in 1840. In 1841, the Rev. 
J. H. Leacock officiated till the advent of the third rec- 
tor in 1842, the Rev. E. C. Bull. In 1847, Mr. Bull re- 
ported sixty families and ninety communicants. Then 
there followed in the order named to the present incum- 
bent, the Revs. W. H. Frisbee, John Purves, J. R. Wil- 
liams, Thomas Hyde and H. N. Wayne. In 1852, Mr. 
Frisbee reported 139 communicants and in i860, Mr! 
Purves 168. 

xM about this time came the dark and sad days of 
turmoil, distress and separation in the life of this vener- 
able parish, when in discord bitter, which the older 



people could not forget, and which it were better the 
younger generation should not know, Trinity parish 
came into existence. We may well weep and bow our 
heads in conscious shame when dissension brings the 
breach of friendship and ill will. But, thank God ! oppos- 
ing factions no longer exist and the two parishes, as 
brethren of one household, now dwell together in unity. 

I would there were the time to speak at length of 
the noble character and faithful rectorship of J. R. Wil- 
hams. The present solidity of this parish is due to his 
truly Christian Avork and influence from the time of the 
division through twenty-six years of earnest and never- 
ceasing endeavor. The foundation he laid could not 
be wrecked, even by the violent and overwhelming tide 
of trouble that made havoc in the immediately following 
rectorship. His is the rest that "remaineth to the people 
of God" and ours the heritage of a saintly character and 
noble influence. 

In 1884 the present new church was built and in 
1894 the new Rectory. All this was possible through 
the generosity and love for the church and parish of the 
long-time senior and junior wardens, Edward and An- 
drew Nash. Since 1884 the memories and associations 
have clustered about this building as once about the old 
church on the hill. As we recall these years, not yet a 
quarter of a century, how much of sadness as well as of 
joy comes to mind with the vividness of recent events. 
In these few years our present surroundings have be- 
come dear and blessed to us in the strength and help we 
have found at this altar and in the round of services for 
the sorrows and struggles of life. Here we behold the 
generous giving and earnest labor that gives, according 
to our opportunity, the best that life has, the life lived 
with Christ in God, to all that need in this great and 
beautiful, but unhappy world. Here is exemplified in 
the grandest sense the ■ truth that my neighbor is he 
whom I can help, be he at my side or at the farthest con- 
fines of the earth. And as the years multiply, the old 
church on the hill will become a 'fading memory and at 
this altar will be read with heart-felt meaning and the 
eye of faith, the hope of all generations, "Make them 
to be numbered with Thy saints." 

I have been forced to omit much that I should have 
liked to have rehearsed to you. Because of the occasion 
I have dwelt more at length on the earlier history which 
concerns the people who were more of Norwalk than we 



89- 



of to-day. Let us remember that we owe a debt of gra- 
titude to this ancient town for that priceless, divine pos- 
session, our church life, and let us give, therefore, due 
recognition to this honorable lineage and pray earnestly 
for our brethren of Nonvalk, and for our church-mother, 
noble old St. Paul's. 

May God bless this ancient town with prosperity, 
true religion and peace. 




88 



MEMORIAL CHURCH OF THE 
HOLY TRINITY, WESTPORT 




EV. Kenneth Mackenzie, Jr., Rector, 
preached a memorial sermon in honor 
of the day, in the course of which he 
referred to the history of the parish 
recently published. To preserve the 
historic features, the following extract 
from the pamphlet is given as printed: 
April 9th, i860, the declaration 
for the formation of a new parish in the town of West- 
port, Conn., was signed. 

April 14th, i860, the first meeting was held. 

April 16, i860, Bishop Brownell and Assistant 
Bishop "Williams gave their canonical consent to the for- 
mation of the new parish ; and on April 20th the Stand- 
ing Committee of the Diocese signified their approval of 
the same. 

April 24th, i860, the Rev. John Purves, A. M., was 
called to the rectorship, and on April 26th he accepted 
the same. 

April 29th, i860, the first religious service was held. 

May 7th, i860, the committee for the purchase of 
site reported, through its chairman, Mr. Richard H. 
Winslow, that the house and lot of Captain Edgar Wake- 
man had been secured. In a historical sermon the Rev. 
A. N. Lewis says of this location: 

'■'An ancient house stood at that time just west of 
the large elm-tree on the church-grounds, which, before 
and during the Revolutionary War, had been an inn. It 
was on the high road from Boston to New York, and 
more than once, it is said, had the honor of sheltering the 
illustrious Washington. 

"On one occasion he had put up at the old inn for 
dinner. Being very hungry he could not wait, and was 
engaged in toasting a piece of ham before the open fire. 
To a boy who had strolled in to see "the General," he 
said: "This is the way the poor soldiers have to live!" 

"Washington also met General the Marquis de La 
Fayette, and General the Count de Rochambeau at the 
inn, where they passed the night." 

June 15th, i860, the parish was admitted into union 
with the Diocesan Convention. 

84k 



September 19th, i860, the corner stone of the 
church edifice was laid. 

Before the walls were up Mr. Winslow, to whose 
energy and enthusiasm the young parish owed its im- 
pulse, passed away, February 14th, 1861. "His death, 
however, did not interrupt his work, which, in accord- 
ance with his wishes and instructions, was carried to 
completion by his widow, Mrs. Mary Fitch Winslow." 
To this generous friend the parish has ever been, and is, 
unspeakably indebted for continued benefactions. 

The church was first opened for divine service Feb- 
ruary 22d, 1862, and on Friday, June 30th, 1863, it was 
consecrated to the worship of God, according to the 
order of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
States of America. 




AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 
SAUGATUCK CONGREGATIONAL 
CHURCH OF WESTPORT 




By the Pastor, Rev. Jabez Backus. 
(A Discourse Delivered Sept. 8, 1901.) 

ONGREGATIONALISM in Connec- 
ticut is co-existent and co-extensive 
with the planting of the different col- 
onies and the founding of the different 
towns. It was the policy of the early 
settlers in New England that each 
town should have an orthodox min- 
ister settled for life and a church or- 
ganized under leave of the general court of the State. 
The late Prof. Johnson says in his excellent study of the 
commonwealth, "Democracy of Connecticut": "It would 
hardly be too strong to say that the establishment of the 
town and the church was coincident. The universal 
agreement in religion made town government and 
church government but the two sides of the same medal, 
and the same person took part in both." It was not that 
church and state were one, it was rather that the people 
were one and of one church. It was not until 1717 that 
the ecclesiastical society, as distinct 'from the town, was 
organized and its rights and powers defined by the gen- 
eral court. In 1679 the people who had come from the 
original Plymouth and Massachusetts Colonies and set- 
tled in Wethersfield, Windsor and Hartford, adopted a 
constitution which declares their object in these notable 
V. ords : "To maintain and preserve the liberty and purity 
of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ which we now 
profess, as also the discipline of the churches, which 
according to the truth of the said gospel is now prac- 
tised amongst us." Under this plan the settling of Con- 
necticut went forward. Every town had its church. 
Fairfield county in 1666, the date of its organization, 
embraced but five towns. These were Fairfield, Strat- 
ford, Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich. Each of these 
early towns have their ancient churches, many of which 
have, or arc about celebrating, their 250th anniversary. 
The only reason that Westport did not have a Congrega- 
tional church a quarter of a millenium ago is, that there 
was no Westport.. In the early times we belonged to the 



towns and parishes of Fairfield and Norwalk. Our 
fathers and mothers trudged a-foot or rode on horseback 
nearly five miles to attend church. Fairfield town and 
parish originally embraced what are now the different 
parishes of Greenfield Hill, called the Fairfield North 
Parish, Southport, Greens Farms and Fairfield North 
West Parish or Norfield, now called Weston. It was 
but natural that the people settled in the Greens Farms 
district and in Compo, Saugatuck and Crosshighway 
should in time find it burdensome to journey the long 
distance that was necessary to attend upon divine wor- 
ship in the mother church at Fairfield. The record tells 
us that in 1715 Captain Thomas Nash, who had come 
from New Haven and settled in Greens Farms some 
years ago, got tired of taking this journey each week, 
and that he. with six others, organized the church in 
Greens Farms. This church thirty-six years ago cele- 
brated its 150th anniversary. It has an exceedingly 
rich and interesting history. It is not my purpose to 
speak at length of the parish bordering upon the west. 
The church and town of Norwalk are to-day entering 
upon their celebration of their 250th anniversary. All 
those years "The Prime Ancient Society" was minister- 
ing to the spiritual wants of the early settlers in that 
locality as far east as the Saugatuck river. There the 
Rev. Thomas Hanford, the first pastor, was growing 
old. But the people respected this ancient servant of 
God, and the town in 1686 passed the following vote: 
"We do desire Mr. Hanford to proceed in the work of 
the gospel ministry, and therein to continue in the said 
work, until the Lord by his providence shall dispose of 
him otherwise ; promising to endeavor to our ability 
for to give due encouragement.*' Meantime, William 
Lees did engage to beat the drum and sweep the church 
decently once a week, and for said services he was to re- 
ceive for the year the sum of one pound and ten shill- 
ings. Stern tithemen were appointed to keep the youth 
in order in the meeting house on the Lord's Day and to 
the best of their wisdom to keep them from uncivil be- 
havior in time of public worship. From what has been 
said, it will be seen that Congregationalism is not young 
in what are now the limits of our town. Churches were 
early established on each side of the Saugatuck River. 
The town of Westport was incorporated in 1835. It was 
formed from the towns of Fairfield, Norwalk and Wes- 
ton. May next our town will be sixty-six years old. 



87 



Long previous to this date, while as yet there was no 
town of Westport, there was a village of considerable 
size, bearing the significant and euphonious name of 
Saugatuck (mouth of the river). Everyone who has 
given the matter the least particle of thought, deplores 
the change of name which took place when the town 
was incorporated. The new town should have borne the 
name of the old village. Hall in his history of Norwalk 
speaks feelingly upon this subject: "Were I a resident of 
that town T would never cease to petition the Legisla- 
ture until the change of name to the original Saugatuck 
was granted." The church whose beginning we now 
note has been more loyal to tradition and the early name 
than has the town. Upon the first page of a book en- 
titled "Records of rhe Congregational Church of Christ 
in the Village of Saugatuck" we find the following re- 
corded: 

At different periods for several successive years 
prior to 1832 the subject of organizing a church and ec- 
clesiastical society in this village became one of conver- 
sation and inquiry among the inhabitants of this village, 
then constituting a part of the ecclesiastical society of 
Greens Farms. A^ter long consultation, it was finally 
decided to take measures and make preparations for the 
building of a meeting house. We find that as early as 
1830 there was formed the Saugatuck Meeting House 
Association. This association appointed a committee 
consisting of the Hon. Samuel B. Sherwood, Ebenezer 
Jesup, Dan Taylor, Thomas F. Rowland, Samuel Avery, 
and Sullivan Moulton, who should have in charge the 
important matter of building a meeting house in Sauga- 
tuck. Of course the first thing was to secure a suitable 
site. True to patriarchal instincts, was not the ancient 
temple set upon a hill? And in conformity with time- 
honored custom, had not the fathers for generations cho- 
sen the till tops as most fitting abodes for Zion? They 
chose the lofty and commanding heights on which the 
church now stands. This plot of ground consisting in 
part of what was known as the "Academy lot," Ebenezer 
Jesup had purchased from Stephen B. Hanford in 1803. 
In 1830 Mr. Jesup, together with Sherwood and Avery, 
other members of the building committee, received the 
title of a tract of land consisting of one acre and twenty- 
nine rods adjoining said academy lot on three sides 
thereof, and held said land in trust for the Congregational 
Society until 1857, when a quit claim deed was given 



the society by said Avery and by the executor of said 
Jesup, and by the heirs of said Sherwood. The story of 
the old academy for many years at the rear of the church 
building, with its upper rooms, is almost as historic as 
that other upper room at Jerusalem long years ago. It 
has a peculiar interest to many still living. It was de- 
voted to both secular and sacred uses. There for forty 
years Miss Leavenworth, of precious memory, taught the 
youth of the village not only in things that pertain to 
this life, but also of the things pertaining to Godliness. 
Many of the earlier meetings of the ecclesiastical society 
were held in that room and frequently it was the place 
appointed for prayer and conference. After the site had 
been procured, the next thing in order was to raise funds 
for the erection of the meeting house. It is interesting 
to run over the names of some of the first givers to this 
worthy enterprise: Avery, Allen, Banks, Baker, Brad- 
ley, Burr, Bennett, Chapman, Coley, Downs, Grey, Gor- 
ham, Hanford, Jesup, Jackson, Keeler, Morehouse, 
Moulton, Meeker, Nash, Piatt, Rowland, Raymond, 
Sherwood, Richards, Richmond, Swift, Scriber, Staples, 
Taylor, Thorpe, Townsend, Turney, Wood, Wright, 
Wheeler, Wakeman, Winton. A noble list of names and 
not so ancient but the memory of them is still fresh in 
the minds of some still living. 

Uriah Ambler was contractor for the building. The 
specifications were most carefully and minutely drawn 
by Samuel B. Sherwood, a lawyer of repute. No details 
seem to be over-looked. We see evidences throughout 
the contract of the clear, shrewd, business mind of Squire 
Sherwood, and also the great care and pains-taking that 
everything entering into the structure should be of the 
best material and finished after the most approved style. 

In the elder days of art 
Builders wrought Avith greatest care 

Each minute and unseen part, 
For the gods see everywhere, 

I have been much impressed with the earnest and 
devout spirit which actuated those who first conceived 
the idea, and undertook the work of establishing a 
church in this place. The building committee in sub- 
mitting their final report employed the following words: 
"Your committee beg leave to report that in their judg- 
ment the house on any calculation is worth its cost. But 



when considered in its relation to the moral influence it 
may effect on society and its connection with the char- 
acter and prosperity of this village, its value cannot be 
estimated. We all know that individually we can do but 
little, but by union of heart and action we can, with the 
blessing of God, procure for ourselves and families those 
blessings which result from moral and religious institu- 
tions and which tend to sweeten all our intercourse, 
enrich the enjoyments of society and scatter in all our 
ways the charm of domestic life. "The meeting house 
was completed and dedicated, and the church organized 
June 5, 1832. The original members numbered thirty- 
six and were all dismissed by letter from the church in 
Greens Farms. The following is the list of members: 
Eliphalet Swift, William Richards, William Bradley and 
Sarah his wife, Benjamin Bradley, Walter Thorpe and 
Betsy his wife, Samuel Wood, Alithea Wood, Caroline 
Wood, Jesse B. Scribner and Sally his wife, George W. 
Comstock, Charles Jesup and Abby his wife, David 
Richmond and Lydia his wife, Eliza Richmond, Mary 
Riley, Eliza Winton, Frances Nash, Alithea Andrews, 
Mary Andrews, Abby J. Swift, Charlotte Jesup, Deborah, 
wife of Samuel B. Sherwood; Janice M. Brush, Maria, 
wife of John Q. Wilson ; Elizabeth Bennett, Samuel 
Jackson and Esther his wife; Molly Bennett and Sally 
Piatt. The above named persons, having been dismissed 
for the purpose from the church in Greens Farms, gave 
their formal assent to articles of faith and a covenant 
of their adoption, and were formally constituted and 
organized by council as the Congregational Church of 
Christ in Saugatuck. We can easily see how it would 
not be altogether agreeable to the mother church to lose 
at once, this goodly number of communicants and pew- 
holders. It is not so strange, when we think of the 
frailty of human nature, that Rev. Mr. Davis, the next 
Sunday after the exodus, chose a text which possibly 
embodied somewhat of resentment. The text was ist 
John 2:19: "They went out from us because they were 
not of us ; for if they had been of us they would have 
continued with us ; but they went out that they might 
be made manifest that they were not all of us." Among 
the ministers of the council called to assist in the forma- 
tion of the new church was Rev. Samuel Merwin of Wil- 
ton, Joel Mann of Greenwich and Edwin Hall of Nor- 
walk. The records state that Rev. Mr. Benedict of Nor- 
walk and Rev. Mr. Davis of Greens Farms were invited 



90 



by the letters missive, but did not attend the meeting. 
The former from ill health, the latter from other reasons. 
In November of the same year Nathaniel L. Hill and 
Maria his wife brought letters of dismission from the 
mother church. He, with William Richards, were ap- 
pointed the first deasons of the church, Nov. 27, 1832. 
To their number were added Jesse B. Scribner, Oliver 
Burr and Charles Jesup, who constituted the first pru- 
dential committee. Rev. C. A. Boardman was the first 
pastor of the church. He had supplied the pulpit for 
two months or more, and had rendered valuable assist- 
ance in drafting a constitution and perfecting the organi- 
zation of the church, before receiving and accepting the 
call to settle as pastor. He was installed by a council 
February 5, 1833. Judging from the records and the 
references which one still hears, the newly formed church 
was very fortunate in the selection of its pastor. Mr. 
Boardman was a man of rich spiritual endowments as 
well as of good mental gifts. In 1836, after three short 
years he resigned his pastorate to accept an appointment 
as secretary and general agent of the Presbyterian Edu- 
cational Society. It was with real reluctance that the 
church acceded to his request for dismission. We see 
and feel how precious were the ties which bound the 
pastor and people together, in the tender words which 
the parting called forth. The church put upon record 
the following vote: ''Resolved, That it is with feeling of 
deep regret that we part with our beloved pastor. We 
are constrained to do so solely by a sense of duty as 
members of the Church of Christ universal." Mr. Board- 
man's parting words were: "I am leaving a flock whose 
uniform kindness and liberality have made a deep im- 
pression on my heart." 

From the first the society seemed to have heartily 
concurred with the church, in the call of the minister 
and in laboring for the prosperity of the newly espoused 
cause. At the regular meeting of the Ecclesiastical So- 
ciety, Lewis Raymond was chosen moderator, Levi T. 
Downes secretary, and Samuel Jackson treasurer. 
Among the other items of business at that first meeting 
of the Society it was voted: "That the place for setting 
up the notices for future meetings of the Society, be on 
the oak near the Northwest comer of the meeting 
house." The old oak tree still stands and does duty as 
in years long past. The first pari.sh committee consisted 
of the well-known and highly respected gentlemen: 



Ebenezer Jesiip, Samuel B. Sherwood, Dan Taylor, 
Samuel Avery, and Sullivan Moulton. Proper regard 
for the music of the sanctuary must have early engaged 
the attention of the Society's committee. The first musi- 
cal instrument was introduced in 1836, when the Society 
voted to pay L. T. Downs and Andrew Comstock $25 
for the bass viol which they had purchased for the 
Society. The story is that there was more or less con- 
sternation among the older inhabitants at introducing 
such profane instruments into the house of God. At one 
of the early parish meetings it was voted to sell the slips 
at auction to the highest bidder. This custom was con- 
tinued for many years. We must see that buying bass 
viols and paying the minister's salary ($700) required 
funds, and the sale of the slips seemed to have been a 
matter of prime importance. Casting our eyes over the 
records, we find the following: "Voted, That the col- 
lector call on those owing for pew rents for the payment 
of their respective debts. Voted, To sell the seats for 
cash. Voted, That the slips in the meeting house shall 
hereafter be rented for cash to be paid down before the 
meeting dissolve." Let us not say that the former days 
were so much better than these, at least in the matter 
of paying pew rents. "Voted, That Thomas Rowland 
act as auctioneer." In fact, we may judge of the elo- 
quence and persuasive powers of the men living in those 
days by the frequency with which they were called to per- 
form the important function of auctioneering oflF the 
slips. Alva Gray, Henry Piatt, William H. Jesup, Oliver 
Burr, William Comstock, Hezekiah Nichols, Thomas 
F. Rowland, Ebenezer Disbrow, E. H. Taylor, John N. 
Betts and others served their term in this important 
capacity. 

The ministry of Rev. Henry Benedict during twelve 
years, from 1840 to 1852, was a fruitful one. Previous 
to his coming the church had given calls to Rev. Joseph 
Foote, Mr. Weed and Richard W. Dickinson, each of 
whom had supplied the pulpit for a longer or shorter 
period. Mr. Benedict was a man of noble parts, a good 
preacher and beloved pastor. It was unfortunate that 
during his long term of service he was never settled as 
pastor and that the records for the time are so meagre. 

During the third year of his ministry there was a 
gracious revival and a large ingathering, twenty-nine 
uniting with the church. Some now living look back 
upon that date as the year of their conversion and con- 



fession of their faith in Christ. Rev, Joseph D, Strong 
was ordained and installed pastor April 12, 1853. He 
resigned to accept a call extended by a church in the 
Sandwich Islands. The dismissing council put upon rec- 
ord this resolution: "In parting with Brother Strong, 
we can most cordially recommend him to his church over 
which he has been called to settle, as an able and faithful 
minister of the gospel. We likewise and most heartily 
sympathize with the church in this place in the loss of 
their beloved pastor. There is evidence of commendable 
promptness and unanimity on the part of the church 
and society in extending a call to the Rev. Timothy 
Atkinson, w^ho was settled as the fourth pastor of the 
church in 1856. His ministry of eight years was in many 
ways distinguished. He was a man of rare scholarship 
and of marked piety. Coincident with his coming there 
was awakened new spiritual life in the church and a 
revival followed. He was indefatigable in labors. Under 
his inspiration the meeting house was enlarged. We 
find the following minute, under date of April 7th, 1857: 
"Voted, That Jonas H. Phelps, John N. Betts, Elnathan 
Wheeler, Gershom B. Bradley and Morris Ketchum be 
appointed a committee to enlarge this house by carrying 
the pulpit back as by plan represented." Under Mr. 
Atkinson's ministry, the Sunday School took on new 
form and manifested new life. It was re-organized in 
i860, at which time John N. Betts was chosen superin- 
tendent, Elnathan Wheeler secretary and treasurer, 
George C. Lees assistant superintendent, F. W. Jesup 
and Edward Richards librarians, Messrs. Winton, Coley, 
Burr, Miss Emma Jesup and Mary F. Atkinson were 
appointed a library committee. It may be stated in this 
connection that Mr. Betts during his term of service as 
superintendent for twenty-five years, was absent but 
seven Sundays during that time, and then not because 
of illness or disinclination, but to attend and assist at 
funerals of kindred or friends. This is almost an 
unparalelled record of fidelity and immunity from phy- 
sical ills. The closing years of Mr. Atkinson's service 
here were during the disturbed and distressing times of 
the rebellion. He took strong anti-slavery grounds. In 
this his church very generally stood by him. He 
preached patriotic sermons. One was printed and had 
wide circulation in pamphlet form. He helped the 
young men, a goodly number of whom went forth to the 
war from this church. His wife's failing health compelled 

99 



him, in 1864, to resign his charge and seek, for her sake, 
a more favorable climate. Sound in theology, spiritually 
minded, strong intellectually, of fine literary tastes, he 
commanded the respect of all who knew him. 

Rev. A. J. Hettrick, the fifth pastor, was installed 
on September 14th, 1865. He came a young man, fresh 
from his theological studies, and full of zeal for the work. 
The installation sermon was preached by Rev. Roswell 
D. Hitchcock, D. D., afterward president of Union Theo- 
logical Seminary. Mr. Hettrick had been trained in a 
Presbyterian Seminary and licensed to preach by the 
Presbytery of New York. But he was settled by a Con- 
gregational Council and as a pastor of a Congregational 
church. I find about this time inserted in the records, 
whether facetiously or with serious intent I know not; 
certain action was taken by the Saugatuck Presbyterian 
Church. With its variety of names, it is the only time 
that the church is called Presbyterian. This church has 
been always Congregational in its pohcy, declaring both 
its autonomy and its fellowship with the churches of like 
faith and order. Mr. Hettrick came not only as a young 
man full of enthusiasm for the work, but at a most op- 
portune time. The war was over. The men that had 
survived had come home. The times were good. The 
Union had been preserved. Right had triumphed. Peo- 
ple were thankful. Churches were prosperous. I am 
struck with the list of young men and women, as well 
as those of middle age, who were ready and waiting for 
some one to gather them into the church. Many who 
are to-day the staunch supporters of the church came 
into it during the ministry of Mr. Hettrick. At this time 
the church building was enlarged, a room had been fitted 
up in the basement for the uses of the Sunday School. 
These quarters had never been satisfactory. They were 
contracted, dark and damp. In November, 1865, the fol- 
lowing was voted by the society: (i) That we gratefully 
accept the sum of money which has been raised by the 
ladies and friends of the Sunday School (a thousand dol- 
lars, with the promise of an additional sum), and (2) 
Voted, That H. R. Tread well, M. L. Mason, John N. 
Betts, H. M. Coley, A. J. Hettrick, A. L. Winton and 
E. W. Taylor be, and are hereby appointed, a committee 
to erect a new room according to the plan proposed. 
That plan resulted in the commodious Sunday School 
and lecture room adjoining the rear of the church. It 
has proven in every respect satisfactory and useful. In 

94 



his letter of resignation in 1883, Mr. Hettrick says: "I 
thank you, beloved friends, for all the varied kindness 
I have received at your hands." The dismissing council 
put upon the record the following minute: "In dismiss- 
ing Brother Hettrick we would cordially commend him 
to the churches as an able and faithful minister, whose 
pastorate of nearly seven years has been abundantly 
blessed." 

The church records during the five years' ministry 
of the Rev. Dr. Sanderson are very scanty. His labors 
began in 1873. Possibly the church assumed too great 
a burden in guaranteeing a salary of $2,000 when it had 
paid in the past not more than $1,200. It was said of 
our early ancestors : 

They reverence their priest, but disagreeing 
In price or creed, dismiss him without fear. 

There is something of the ancestral spirit still alive 
in the churches of our order. Dr. Sanderson has for 
some years past been the able and successful editor of the 
Pulpit Treasury and Evangelical Monthly of Religious 
Thought. For the two years following Dr. Sanderson's 
dismissal the pulpit was supplied a portion of the time 
by Rev. Mr. Hammond. June 4th, 1879, the church 
extended a call to the Rev. B. F. Bradford of Darien. 
This call was declined. During this year important 
changes and improvements were made in the interior 
of the church building. The pulpit platform was built 
forward and the organ moved from its lofty perch in the 
rear gallery to the recess back of the pulpit. Rev. Wil- 
liam Hart was acting pastor during the years 1880 to 
1881. January ist, 1883, there began a pastorate which 
is fondly cherished in the memory of all, and which was 
most productive of blessed results. Rev. John E. Tuttle 
was ordained and installed pastor of the Church May 
22, 1883. He came to the church a young man with a 
mind richly furnished and with a heart aglow with 
Christian zeal. From the beginning of his labors here, 
he revealed himself to the church and community as a 
man thoroughly consecrated to his work. Earnest 
prayers and efiforts prepared the way for a remarkable 
revival in 1887, when at a single communion service in 
May forty communicants w^ere received into the church 
on confession of their faith. This is the largest number 
ever united with the church at one time. How many 

95 



remember that day, and I trust will remember it with joy 
as long as they live ! At the end of five years Mr. Tuttle 
resigned his pastorate in the midst of his popularity and 
usefulness to accept an urgent call to a larger field in 
Jamaica Plain, Mass.. Mr. Tuttle was the first pastor 
to occupy the Ebenezer Jesup homestead as a parsonage. 
Mr. Morris K. Jesup, a native of this village and whose 
honored ancestors were largely instrumental in forming 
the church, purchased and deeded this valuable property 
to the Society in 1884. His thoughtful and generous 
gift has been appreciated by the parish and certainly 
most of all by those who have been privileged to occupy 
the pleasant and commodious building. 

It would be unbecoming for the writer of this sketch 
to make minute references to the successes or failures 
in the present pastorate. It began more than twelve 
years ago, and has exceeded in length any that have pre- 
ceded it. It began under favorable auspices, which 
seemed to have been continuous. There have 
been seasons of gracious, spiritual quickening, al- 
though no marked revival, in which great num- 
bers have been brought into the church. No 
year has passed without accessions to our member- 
ship, and during the twelve years one hundred and fif- 
teen in all have joined the church by letter and confes- 
sion. Meantime the same fact must be noted that death 
and other causes have removed about an equal number. 
Ours is now the problem of the country church in a com- 
munity where the character of the population has greatly 
changed during the last decade. The old New England 
and Protestant element is being supplanted by foreigners 
of different faith or no faith. Our work has not been 
confined to this conmiunity alone, and on an average 
the church has given over $400 each year for the sup- 
port of missions in our own and foreign lands. In the 
care and provision for our church home there has been 
a commendable interest and pride. Three years ago the 
interior of the building was thoroughly renovated and 
redecorated at a cost of nearly $2,000. This year it has 
been newly painted, greatly improving its outward 
appearance. In 1894 a new organ was purchased at a 
cost of $1,800. Electric lighting was introduced about 
the time that it was brought to the town. These addi- 
tional expenses from time to time have been cheerfully 
and courageously met and we are free from the burden 
of debt. It is worthy of note that two of the original 

96 



members left in their wills bequests in aid of the church. 
These were Thomas F. Rowland and Charlotte Jesup. 
Mr. Richard Stephenson also, though never a member 
of the church, was interested in her welfare, as evidenced 
by a parting gift to help forward the work. One of our 
members still living, Miss Eliza Gorham, has generously 
given $i,ooo as a fund to aid in defraying its annual 
expenses. I mention the above gracious deeds as not 
only worthy of note, but of imitation, by such as would 
thus seek to perpetuate their good works through all the 
coming years. I think more of the noble self-sacrificing 
men and women who wrought in laying the foundation 
and carrying forward the work of this church since be- 
coming more familiar with their history. I think more 
of the possibilities and responsibilities which rest upon 
us who are living in these days of light and wondrous 
privilege to make history during the days of our steward- 
ship that shall be worthy of record and reciting in the 
years to come. Our church stands with her white 
steeple pointing heavenward as an inspiration and a 
warning. She would warn us against sin and worldli- 
ness. She would inspire us to nobler living and to emu- 
late that which was truest and best in our Christian 
ancestors, and to cherish more dearly our Christian 
heritage. 




97 




SECOND DAY, SEPTEMBER TENTH 

HIS morning- was set apart for the 
exercises in the various public 
schools of the town and was gener- 
ally observed. The afternoon at the 
armory was also devoted to a gather- 
ing of the school children for a general 
reception and historical addresses. The 
evening was set apart for historical 
tableaux. 

The morning hours in the schools were made inter- 
esting by a series of addresses on historical subjects. We 
are obliged to be content with a summary: 

FRANKLIN SCHOOL. 

The exercises in this school were attended by the 
high school pupils as well as those of the school itself. 
The two speakers were School Committeeman A. Blan- 
chard and Rev. Charles M. Selleck. The songs by the 
pupils were Adams's "Holy City," Sousa's "Stars apd 
Stripes Forever," and "Columbia, the Gem of the 
Ocean." 

Mr. Blanchard first spoke of the two schools in the 
district, the Old Well, which was located near the pre- 
sent Congregational Church, and the Flax Hill school 
on the site of the watering trough at the juncture of West 
and Lowe streets. Mr. Blanchard said that in 1853 the 
two districts presented a petition to the school society of 
the town, asking that they be made one district. This 
was done, and the district was accordingly called the 
Union School District. The officers elected were Mat- 
thew Wilcox, clerk ; Burr Nash, Willis Craw and Eben 
Hill, committee; William H. Benedict, treasurer, and 
Daniel Benedict, collector. 

At the start the Old Well school was sold for $350 
and an acre of land bought for $1,075. The district was 
incorporated by the Legislature in 1855. The children 
at this time all had to pay tuition to the district. In 
cases where it was impossible the town paid it. The 
rates varied in the different grades and at different times. 
It was from $ .90 in the primary to $5 in the high school 
every twelve months. This custom was later abolished 
by the Legislature. 



Matthew Wilcox was finally succeeded as clerk by 
William Henry Benedict, who also served long and 
faithfully. In i860 the principal got $800 and the four 
assistants together $1,400. In 1864 $1,150 was collected 
from the pupils. On June 23, 1870, after much discus- 
sion, it was voted to build the Concord street school. 
The building cost $9,895.86. There were 758 pupils in 
the district at this time. Two years later the matter of 
enlarging the Franklin street school was agitated. At 
this time it might be mentioned that one janitor got $2iQ 
and the other $150 per year. 

At a meeting held May 12, 1873, o^ motion of John 
D. Bouton, it was voted to sell the old Union school 
house at public auction and to build a new one at a cost 
not to exceed $35,000. This was rescinded at the next 
meeting and the old school was entirely remodeled at a 
cost of $17,715. In 1873 the district was enlarged by the 
taking in of Graniteville. Next came the enlargement 
of the Concord street building, which cost $12,000 and 
then the enlargement and improvement of the Union 
school, which cost $35,000. 

At present there are thirty-five teachers employed 
in the district and an enumeration of 1,666 pupils. The 
yearly expense of the district is $20,000. 

Rev. Mr. Selleck was then introduced. All were 
eager to hear what he would have to say, and when he 
arose to deliver his address a pin could have been heard 
to fall anywhere in the room. He said that he felt proud 
to be able to be before them to-day, and first he wished 
to say that he listened with deep interest to the discourse 
concerning the stations of this school district. "Norwalk 
is passing through great days," said he. "This is a 
great celebration, and I do not believe that our people 
really appreciate it. We are now celebrating our ances- 
tors, so to speak. That might sound like Chinese, but I 
consider that it is a very important lesson. I find that 
a person who is not proud of his ancestry has no ancestry 
to be proud of. Norwalk has a proud ancestry." 

Here the speaker drifted to the first school in the 
town, and the foundress of the first school, who came 
to East Norwalk and drilled the children in what they 
then called the keeping room, or what we would call 
now the parlor. That is how the first school was started, 
the same as the first town clerk's offi.ce, in the parlor of 
Thomas Fitch's house. He told about this foundress 
lying in the East Norwalk cemetery, and how her teach- 



w 



ings have come down to this day, and what effect her 
early training had upon the children of to-day, even. 
Mr. Selleck then told of the first teaching he did in Nor- 
walk. After teaching a little while he went to Troy, and 
there opened a private school. He told about one day 
a knock was heard on his school door and when he 
opened it, there stood a very distinguished looking lady. 
It proved to be Madame Ella Willard, who glanced 
around the room and then stated that there was one thing 
lacking, and that was "Temple of Time." Here Mr. Sel- 
leck described minutely what that temple of time was, 
and wished that the schools of to-day could have them. 
There was a picture of a large temple, and in it were the 
names of all the distinguished men from Adam down to 
the present. He said that it was an education in itself 
to look at the temple and study what was in it. 

OVER RIVER SCHOOL. 

The pupils of the Over River School assembled at 
9 o'clock in the High school room. The exercises 
opened with singingof "Hail Columbia" by a chorus of 
voices. Hon. E. J. Hill addressed the school in his most 
inspiring manner, and held his young audience spell- 
bound. He impressed upon the minds of the children 
the great advantages they had inherited by being bom 
in New England, the best part of our noble land. He 
illustrated his lessons by telling and showing what he 
had seen and heard in the foreign lands from which he 
has just returned with heartfelt thankfulness that he 
was an American citizen. Such a lesson so delivered 
will do more to inspire a feeling of citizenship in young 
minds than many a lesson taken from books. In closing 
Mr. Hill urged the children not to forget in the midst 
of their rejoicing, to offer up a sincere prayer that our 
noble President may, by the grace of God, be spared 
to his people. The school then sang "The Star-Spangled 
Banner," after which Lieutenant-Governor Keeler ad- 
dressed them, telling the advantages the pupils have to- 
day in contrast to those of even fifty years ago. He also 
gave a brief forecast of the possibilities of the future. 
The lesson he drew was that of the boy who would suc- 
ceed in any sphere of Hfe must work faithfully and dili- 
gently. Rev. Alexander Hamilton, who was also pre- 
sent and spoke to the pupils in a few words told of the 
heroism of their forefathers in the Revolutionary War. 

IQO 



His personal reminiscences were very interesting, and 
from them the pupils were led to feel that an honest, true 
and faithful life would win the favor of God and their fel- 
low-men. The principal, Mr. Wigham, then gave a brief 
outline of the history of the Over River School district, 
with which he has been so closely associated for so many 
years. The exercises closed by the pupils singing 
"America." 

MIDDLE FIVE MILE RIVER SCHOOL. 

This little school is one of the oldest in the town. 
It occupies a modern building on the continuation of 
West street, near the intersection of the road from New 
Canaan to Rowayton Landing. There are nearly sixty 
pupils regularly attending the school. Miss Carrie St. 
John is the principal and Miss Bishop assistant. The 
building was tastefully decorated and after the singing 
of patriotic isongs an address was delivered by Mr. 
Samuel Richards Weed, who began by recalling the 
appearance of the school in its old building in 1847, at 
which time he was one of its pupils. He briefly recounted 
the early history of the settlement of Norwalk and called 
attention to the fact that the old histories and geogra- 
phies used to lay great stress upon the fact that when 
William Penn, the Quaker, settled in Philadelphia he 
made a treaty with the Indians and paid them for the 
land. This was in 1674, while the site of Norwalk was 
purchased by Roger Ludlow from the Indians in 1640, 
a few years before William Penn was born, and a little 
later Captain Partrick bought from the Indians the land 
on the west of the river, including the very land upon 
which this school-house now stands. He commended 
their honorable example to the children. The exercises 
concluded with patriotic songs. 

EAST NORWALK SCHOOL. 

The following address on "Earliest Norwalk" was 
given by Miss Angeline Scott, this morning, at the anni- 
versary exercises of the East Norwalk school, in the East 
Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church: 

Connecticut was a beautiful wilderness 260 years 
ago when the first white settlements were planted, Wind- 
sor, Hartford, Wethersfield, fifteen years before the 
founding of Norwalk. The forest stretched eastward, 

101 



westward, southward, over all the hills and valleys, with 
bears and deer and birds within its shadows. The unpol- 
luted waters of the rivers and the Sound were full of fish 
and shellfish covered the seashore. Dusky human fig- 
ures clad in doe skin and decked with beads and feathers 
flitted in noiseless mocassins through the forests or 
floated down the streams in birch-bark canoes. Hunger 
was the Indian's only spur to activity, his mind was 
alert to the possibility of lurking foes and his powers 
of observation were trained to serve him as hunter or 
warrior. Bountiful as the land was, not more than 2,000 
Indians dwelt in all Connecticut at the time of which we 
speak, and only about 300 Indians lived in the Norwalk 
purchased by Ludlow and Partrick. 

These were scattered remnants of tribes, as the relics 
of the Old Field near the almshouse testify, being of 
diverse kinds, and the modes of burial in the graves dis- 
covered are different. Evidently hungry Indians had 
come to Norwalk as wanderers from their original 
country. There was a village of a clan of Mohegans 
at Belden's or Wilson's Point, however, one of the inde- 
pendent villages which Bancroft tells us were scattered 
between the Hudson and Connecticut rivers. It was 
then called Naramake, after a great chieftain, and Nor- 
walk is a name derived from the same root-word, instead 
of being a punning contraction of Northwalk, w'hich is 
a general impression. The late William S. Bouton, a 
local antiquarian, distinctly traced the site of this village 
twenty years ago, near the present residence of Mr. Bur- 
chard. Nearbv was a feasting ground marked by a 
deposit two feet deep of shells and animals' bones where 
the Indians used to have what we call Rhode Island 
clambakes. Naramake was the home of Mahackemo 
and the others who signed the deeds which Roger Lud- 
low and Daniel Partrick secured from the Indians. 

On the hill over which the Tramway now runs, near 
Witch Lane, were defensive settlements from which a 
watch might be kept of the islands and the Sound. Be- 
low the hill runs the brook Pampaskeshanke, named in 
two of the Indian deeds as a boundary ; we call it Roton 
Brook. It rises far back on the hills and flows in a gen- 
eral southerly direction, emptying into Wilson's Cove; 
this brook is the western boundary of the City of South 
Norwalk \vhere it crosses the highway near the residence 
of Dr. Burke. Roger Ludlow's tract of land purchased 
in 1640 lay between the Norwalk and Saugatuck rivers 



a day's walk up into the country from the sea, for which 
he paid 50 pounds judiciously invested in the following 
highly desirable articles: (Deforest 177) Eight fathoms of 
wampum, 6 coats, 10 hatchets, 10 hoes, 10 knives, 10 
scissors, 10 jewsharps, 10 fathoms of tobacco. 3 kettles 
of six hands about, and 10 looking glasses. 

A few months later Captain Daniel Partrick pur- 
chased a tract of land west of the Norwalk river from the 
same sachem, Mahackemo,, its western boundary being 
the brook Pampaskeshanke. In 1650, a company of 
planters headed by Nathaniel Eli and Richard Olsmtead 
entered into a conditional agreement with Roger Lud- 
low as to the transfer of his Norwalk land to them. The 
final assignment to the settlers of Norwalk was made 
by Ludlow four years later. In July, 1650, the same 
company added the Partrick tract to the Ludlow pur- 
chase and further enlarged the bounds of the new set- 
tlement by the addition of the Indian lands known as 
Runckinheage or Rooaton, west of the Pampaskeshanke, 
and known to us to-day as Rowayton. This deed also 
included the Norwalk Islands; it dated 165 1. 

Since the Ludlow agreement required the settle- 
ment of the land before the next Spring after the sign- 
ing of the papers, it is altogether probable that some 
of the men came to Norwalk immediately and began a 
clearing in the forest for the little colony of not less than 
thirty families, who came very early in the Spring of 
165 1. The emigrants from Hartford entered Norwalk 
by way of what is now France street and encamped at 
the Rocks one night, arriving next day at their destina- 
tion, the place marked by the Founders' Stone in East 
avenue. It is hard to believe that wheeled vehicles were 
not used in Connecticut until the middle of the i8th cen- 
tury, so that all the goods our forefathers brought to the 
first Norwalk must have come on the backs of their 
horses and oxen. 

The black house which sheltered the company till 
their log and shingle houses were built, stood in the rear 
of Mr. H. M. Prowitt's residence. Nearby, in 1659, the 
first meeting house was built by Walter Haite and Ralph 
Keeler, and covered with "2,000 good and sufficient 
shingles furnished by Matthew Marvin. The meeting 
house was used for town meetings as well as religious 
services ; and. in front of it, was a common, which was 
used on training days for a parade ground. Across the 
common opposite the church was the home of the Rev. 



103 



Thomas Hanford, who came to Norwalk in 1652 and 
was assigned a home lot the following year. The men 
who founded Norwalk were not ignorant men nor ad- 
venturers in the sense of being of a roving disposition. 
Their bold journeyings into untried regions were not to 
ascape from the restraints of law, but to make homes for 
themselves under laws which were framed by themselves. 
Some of them were experienced in frontier life, having 
been in America twenty or thirty years. Self-reliant, 
hardy, not without money, they were of the strength of 
England. Many unmarked graves of Connecticut pio- 
neers might rightfully be decorated with coats of arms; 
for the men who wrought with axe and plow were of 
gentle families as well as from the yeomanry. The men 
of means who left old England for the hard conditions 
of the pioneer's life were of the religious class who be- 
lieved the pomp and glory of the world a hindrance in 
preparing for the next; and, while deference from the 
lower to the gentler born survived in social usages, all 
other class distinctions dropped out of sight. The task 
our forefathers had set themselves was too engrossing 
to allow them to spend time and money upon perpetuat- 
ing the traditions of their lineage. It remains for the 
descendants of this generation to connect the families of 
America with the English stock; and, in most cases 
of those who claim their ancestry among the planters of 
the New England colonies, it is possible to trace the 
family historv in English records. The lack of monu- 
ments to mark the graves of even the eminent men of 
those times is explained by the scarcity of suitable stone 
and the lack of the stone cutter's skill. The Connecticut 
colonists were more democratic in their ideas of town 
government than the Massachusetts colonists. The Rev. 
Thomas Hooker, a man of whom it was said "he could 
put a king in his pocket," was the leader of this senti- 
ment and his ringing words in a sermon preached at 
Hartford in 1638 "to persuade us as God has given us 
liberty to take it" give the key to the spirit of the men 
who planted the "three vines set in the wilderness," 
Windsor, Hartford. Wethersfield, honored on the seal 
of the State. Our Norwalk forefathers were men of this 
stamp and the town records show the importance 
attached to the vote each man was entitled to in the town 
meeting ; so anxious were they that every voice should 
he heard, a fine was imposed for absence from it. There 



104 



were officials in those days who fill no place in modern 
town government. 

Thomas Lupton was chosen in July, 1668, "to look 
after the young people in the meeting house on the 
Lord's day and to doe his best endeavor to help them 
from playing and unsivill behavior in time of public wor- 
ship." Thomas Barnum undertook the same task in 
1681, "to keep good decorum, amongst the youth in times 
of exercise on the Sabbath and other piiblique meetings ; 
and the Towne doe mipower him if he see any disorderly, 
for to keep a small stick to correct such with, only he is 
desired to do it with clemency." In 1665, Walter Haite 
was appointed to beat the drum for meetings at 10s., for 
the year, and Thomas Benedict to have the meeting 
house swept for 20s. A later drummer, Robert Stewart, 
son of one of the richest men, was "rewarded for his ser- 
vice with the drumb." In 1703, a bell superseded the 
drum in calling people to the meeting house, and in 1713 
Zerubbabell Hoyt was engaged to ring the bell at 9 
o'clock every night. No public business was transacted 
in town meeting after that hour. 

The first mill was not the old tide mill. Jonathan 
Marsh established the first grist mill at the foot of Mill 
Hill in 1657. 

The oldest road in town is the "Stamford path," 
which stretched from that place to Fairfield over Flax 
Hill and through Van Zandt avenue. This existed as a 
"trail" when the settlers first came to Norwalk, since 
Stamford and Fairfield are older settlements. The next 
oldest is East avenue, from Rev. Dr. A. F. Beard's home 
down to the old Benedict tide mill. The most convenient 
crossing place when the colonists took their cow^s to pas- 
ture on the west side of the river was at the ford above 
the falls where the iron bridge nowspans the river in 
Cross avenue. This naturally made the beginning of a 
road in that direction. 

Goodman Marsh was instructed by the town meet- 
ing to be ready to grind the townsmen's com on the 2nd, 
4th and 6th days of the week. In 1664 Henry Whitney 
was permitted to erect "a good and sufficient ground 
corne mill at the Point of Rocks on the Norwalk river 
below the falls." His home lot was laid out "on the 
mill plain on the right hand of the patch leading down 
to the old mill. The Point of Rocks, Mr. Selleck tells 
us, is now a part of the foundation of the Norwalk bridge 
and the mill and Whitney's house were the first build- 



105 



ings in the future city of Nonvalk. In 1680 the growing 
community required a bridge and the town committee 
chose the place "below the falls" by the mill for its site. 
Christopher Comstock kept the first ordinary for enter- 
taining strangers; in 1671, he lived at the corner of East 
avenue and the Old Fairfield road opposite the meeting 
house and very near our Founders' stone. Richard 
Holmes set up the first saw mill on Five-Mile-River with 
the liberty of a mile of timber on this side of that river. 
With the buildings of the bridge a movement towards 
uptown began ; then came the question of a new meeting 
house. The young people who looked towards the fu- 
ture thought a change of site was desirable and the old 
people who looked towards the past, remembering their 
struggles in a wild land when they came to Norwalk 
thirty years before, prized the associations of the original 
site. So a commitete of "three honest indifferent judi- 
cious men" was chosen to decide the question and the 
record reads "the town engages to sit down satisfied 
with their determination." The new meeting house was 
built on the site of the present residence of Dr. Beard in 
East avenue. The Rev. Thomas Hanford was growing, 
old, but the town meeting affectionately requested him 
"to proceed in the work of the ministry and to continue 
in the sayd work till the Lord shall dispose of him other- 
wise," pledging him their faithful support. He died seven 
years later, after a pastorate of over forty years. In 1690 
the atrocities of the Indians at Schenectady and Salmon 
Falls during the French and Indian war alarmed all the 
colonies. Norwalk took precautionary measures against 
attack by fortifying the meeting house and setting a 
watch. 

In front of this second meeting house another com- 
mon or green became the heart of the community and 
Matthew Sention kept a tavern or ordinary nearby. An 
entertaining old journal kept by a young woman who 
made the difficult journey from Boston to New York and 
back again in 1704 comments on her stop in Norwalk as 
follows: "About nine at night we came to Norwalk, 
having crept over a timber of a broken bridge about 
thirty feet long and perhaps fifty to ye water. I was ex- 
ceedingly tired out and cold when we came to our Inn 
and could get nothing there but poor entertainment and 
the impertinent babble of one of the worst of men, among 
many others, of which our Host made one, who, had 
he been one degree imprudenter, would have outdone his 



106 



Grandfather, and this I think is the most perplexed night 
I have yet had. From hence, Saturday, Dec. 23, a very 
cold and windy day, after an intolerable night's lodgings, 
we hasted forward, only observing in our way the town 
to be situated on a navigable river, with indifferent build- 
ings and people more refined (Pg. 2720 174.30) than in 
some of the country towns wee had passed tho' vicious 
enough, the Church and tavern being next neighbors." 

The second minister, Stephen Buckingham, was set- 
tled in 1695 and, after the custom of the times, a home- 
stead was given him, together with a piece of salt marsh 
for "crick thatch." His lot now lies under the roadbed 
of the New York and New Haven railroad. In 1717 
the third meeting house was built and another lengthy 
deliberation as to its site ended in the choice of the place 
now occupied by Mrs. W. G. Thomas's residence, in 
East avenue. When it was completed in 1721 it was 
voted to use it only for religious meetings ; it had a 
steeple and a bell and broad stone steps. This was the 
meeting house during revolutionary days and was the 
one burned during Tryon's invasion. The burial ground 
on Mill Hill called Whitnev's Hill in the records, after 
the miller, was opened for the use of members of the 
First Society (Congregational) in 1767. The grant to 
St. Paul's parish was made thirty years before but addi- 
tional land was granted it in 1760. Just here we remark 
how strange it is that no mention is made in any records 
of the earliest burial ground in Norwalk. Probably the 
down-town cemetery is the oldest, but no very ancient 
stones are there to show where the "forefathers of the 
hamlet sleep." The early graves were probably never 
marked save by stones at head and foot which their con- 
temporaries knew, but with no inscription to tell later 
generations where the Marvins and Hanfords, Benedicts 
and Betts, Fitchs and Olmsteads, Sensions and Hoyts, 
Gregories and Seymours, Lockwoods, Comstocks, Whit- 
neys and Raymonds of the first two generations sleep. 
In 1708 land was appropriated on the west side of the 
river for a burial place which is doubtless Pine Island; 
and many venerable stones stand there whose inscriptions 
are still legible. It seems as if the Down Town cemetery 
had not been reverently treated ; for stones with quaint 
epitaphs which were seen there ten years or so ago have 
disappeared. 

Surely if this is the spot where Norwalk's forefath- 

107 



ers are buried its dust is sacred and the place should be 
suitably enclosed and every stone that is left be preserv- 
ed. If we were to go on with our reminiscences, bring- 
ing us to Revolutionary days, a fund of tradition would 
enliven the narrative ; stories of General Washington and 
Postmaster-General Franklin passing through or stop- 
ping over night ; stories of dwellers in the old houses now 
gone, yet well remembered, by the older people who have 
heard from grandsires' lips anecdotes of the century and 
a quarter since the Revolution. 




108 



HISTORY OF THE 
EAST NORWALK SCHOOL 




By Augustus C. Golding. 

HE first mention of a school in the 
town proceedings is dated May 29, 
1678. The town voted and agreed to 
hire a school master to teach all of 
the children in the town to read, and 
write, and the Townsmen (selectmen) 
were instructed to hire Mr. Cornish on 
as reasonable terms as they can. 
Feb. 20, 1679, James Olmsted was appointed school 
master to set copies for the children. Nov. 17, 1679, it 
was voted to build a school house 20 ft. long 18 ft. wide, 
posts 7ft., and to be not less than 6 ft. from floor to ceil- 
ing ; it was to stand between Samuel Keeler's corner and 
the water flood, which has been located near the barn of 
W. S. Hanford, directly in front of the upper school 
house. 

Aug. 20, 1686, voted 30 pounds (about $150) for a 
school master; also voted to have a ihouse fitted for a 
school. 

Feb. 21, 1692, Mr. Thomas Hanford, Jr., was chosen 
school master, to be paid i pound 10 shillings, (about 
$7.50) per month. He was born in the town July 18, 
1668, and lived where the Rev. Mr. Selleck lives, on the 
town street, now called East avenue. He died in 1743, 
and is buried in the nearby cemetery. 

Dec. 12, 1705, voted that the lots in rear of Mr. 
Buckingham's, called pasture lots, shall be sequestered for 
school use 4 acres !to be and remain for the use of the 
schoolmaster. Rev. Mr. Buckingham's lot is now cross- 
ed by the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R., the east bound sta- 
tion being on it. The pasture lots extended east and 
north to the Saugatuck river. 

Feb. 3, 1703-4, voted that there should be a school- 
master in the town if he could be found on reasonable 
terms. 

Jan. 30, 1720-21, voted to have two schools attended, 
and kept for the year ensuing, one at ye south end of ye 
town, and the other at ye north end of ye town, at ye two 
respective school houses now in being, in ye winter 

109 



time ; and ye summer school at ye south end, and at ye 
school house on the west side of ye river ; and ye couri- 
try money shall be divided according to lyst by the mili- 
tarv lyne. 

From the above it would appear that the school at 
the south end of the town was the largest school being 
open the whole of the year. 

We will now come down to more modern times. 
The school house in use previous to 1826 stood on the 
street within the present fence at the northeast corner of 
the homestead of Rev. A. T. Beard, D.D., a new school 
house was erected in that year being the building now 
standing on the northwest corner of the homestead of 
Mr. O. W. Raymond. When in use as a school house 
ii stood in the street between two trees, one of which is 
now standing ; when this building was completed the old 
building was sold, and the owner of the adjoining land 
moved his fence out to include the school site and after- 
ward moved his barn partly on the street, and then built 
his fence outside of that making the street the narrow 
alley it now is. Down to the building of the school 
house which succeeded this last building all of the school 
houses had been fitted in the old way ; a row of planking 
around the building or on two or three sides next the 
walls, furnished the desks, in front of this another plank 
at the proper height, furnished the seat. There was no 
back to lean against, except that when the scholars turn- 
ed out (so called) they could lean against the desk. Some 
time before this school house was abandoned chairs with 
a back were substituted for the plank. These could be 
turned in any direction, (in my school days plank desks 
like these were well filled with holes and other knife 
marks,) the small scholars sat on benches in the middle 
of the room. Some benches had backs, and some had 
none, and the small children were kept in school the same 
number of hours as the older ones. 

In 1868, the district acquired a portion of the site 
on which the upper school building stands and the front 
part of the building was erected, there was one large 
room on the second floor (since divided) and two rooms 
on the first floor. It was then supposed that the district 
was provided with school rooms enough for many years. 
When the building was finished the system of seating and 
desks now in use were introduced, to the great comfort 
of the pupils ; but it is to be hoped that before many 
years the present old fashioned seats, and desks will give 



110 



way to the single desk, and seat for each pupil, that can 
be adjusted to suit the scholar, be he or she, tall or short. 
I will also say for your information so that you may 
avoid such a mistake when you grow up, that the dis- 
trict borrowed $8,000 (eight thousand dollars) to pay 
the balance due on the building when completed, and 
that on this money they paid more than $8,000 interest, 
mvTking the cost to the district for that 4 room wooden 
building more than that of the new 8 room brick school 
house with 4 rooms finished. 

When the town was divided into districts this was 
called the Down Town District, till about 18 years ago, 
when the name was changed to East Norwalk. 

The school continued to grow, and all of the rooms 
were filled. There was talk of finishing a room in the 
attic ; but the better plan of building in the rear was 
adopted, and the two rooms in the rear of the center of 
the old building were put up with a recitation room at 
one end of the hall on the second story. With this addi- 
tion there was room enough till 1890 when the two rooms 
on the southeast corner were erected; at the same time 
the recitation room was enlarged by extending it into 
. the new part. These additions were paid for when built. 
About 1895 the building again became crowded and 
more room was needed. A meeting was called and an 
effort made to build another addition. It resulted only 
in buying about 80 ft. additional land on the rear of the 
lot, and much improving the present site. 

In 1896 the district voted to buy five lots on Greg- 
ory Boulevard and Second avenue, making 150 ft. on 
the first street and 250 ft. on the avenue. In the mean- 
time rooms were hired in Randall's block, and two teach- 
ers were installed there with small children. In 1897 
the district voted to erect the present eight room brick 
building on the new site. Work was commenced the 
same year, and the outside completed. The next spring 
four rooms, the halls, and basement being completed. It 
was occupied at the commencement of the spring term; 
and the high school removed there from the upper build- 
ing. The number of pupils still increases, and probably 
by next year additional rooms will have to be finished in 
the new building. 

This district is second in the town in the number of 
scholars attending school, and it may be safely said, bet- 
ter provided with room than any other large district. 

Ill 



The East Norwalk schools stand well in the estimation 
of those qualified to judge. 

As the name of the first teacher has been given it 
will not be amiss to say that the present principal is Mr. 
Edward H. Gumbart, and that he is assisted by thirteen 
lady teachers. 

It will be seen by the preceding history of the first 
school that the town had been settled twenty-eight years 
before there was mention of a school or teacher. A 
generation had grown up in this time, and probably 
some of them had children old enough to attend school. 
Vv^e will not suppose that they had grown up in ignor- 
ance, for many of them were afterward prominent in 
the town and state. Probably the long silence about 
the school may be explained by the fact that the Rev. 
Thomas Hanford had been a school teacher up to the 
time that he came to Norwalk, the first record of which 
is Roxbury, Mass., in the year 165 1. October 29th the 
secretary of New Haven colony was desired to speak 
to Mr. Goodyear to see some means to bring the school- 
master hither. November 14th he was in New Haven 
and an agreement was made with him as to his pay and 
diet and chamber which, being arranged, he taught till 
June, 1652, when one of the planters from Norwalk 
went to New Haven and saw the Governor and Mr. Han- 
ford with a view to his coming to Norwalk to work in 
the ministry. It is probable that he taught the children 
in his own or some other house till his age incapacitated 
him for such hard work 




lit 



1 -1 XV •<(~"^~'""'^i'"'' 


1 




T 




^|5^ 



CENTRE SCHOOL, NORWALK 

HE celebration exercises in this school 
were very interesting and the occasion 
was diversified by a loan exhibition of 
historical relics, gathered from some 
of the older persons and which was 
a very pleasant and instructive feature. 
The addresses were listened to with 
close attention. The program of the 
morning was as follows: 

Song, The Breaking Waves ; scripture reading, 
twenty-third and one hundredth Psalms ; Episcopal pray- 
er for the president of the United States ; salute to the 
flag ; song, The Star Spangled Banner ; address, Rev. C. 
M. Selleck; sketch. The Old Wooden Building Remin- 
iscenses, Emma Quintard ; sketch. The Brick Building 
and later Additions, Chester Heath ; address, Congress- 
man E. J. Hill ; song, America ; salute to the flag. 




us 





^ 


^Ti 


fe-ts-^an^ 


s 



THE PUBLIC ASSEMBLY 

HE gathering of the school children in 
the State Armory was a memorable 
event. The great building was crowd- 
ed and the decorations in blue, white 
and yellow with national flags, were 
highly praised. Possibly, the Armory 
decorations were never so complete 
and perfect as on this occasion and 
well served for the further events connected with the cele- 
bration. The decorations were under the charge of the 
ladies and were well planned by Mr. Charles Miller. 
The school children took up the line of march toward 
the Armory at i :30 p. m., and the streets as they ap- 
proached presented a brilliant appearance. A body of 
well trained u.shers, under the direction of Captain How- 
ard J. Bloomer were verv efficient in seating the assem- 
bly. 

Abiathar Blanchard, secretary of the board of 
school visitors, was chairman of the exercises in the ar- 
mory. 

The first number was the singing of "The Star 
Spangled Banner" by the scholars. The great drill hall 
rang with the refrain, "O'er the land of the free and home 
of the brave." 

Secretary Blanchard then made a few introductory 
remarks, closing by introducing Miss Mary Merriman 
Abbott, president of the Connecticut State Federation 
of Women's clubs, who made an address on "Yesterday, 
To-day and To-morrow." Mr. Blanchard spoke as fol- 
lows: 

"Ladies and gentlemen, fellow citizens of Norwalk 
and visiting friends, teachers and pupils of the schools 
of the town : — As presiding officer during these exercises, 
allow me to extend to you greetings on this auspicious 
occasion. 

"It is well within the bounds of truth to say that the 
exercises of the present week have a quite remarkable 
significance. We are commemorating the 250th anni- 
versary of the founding of this town. Two hundred and 
fifty years, a quarter of a millennium, this is a long period 
in human history, even in the history of the nations and 
towns of the old world. In this newly discovered Ameri- 
ca such a period carries us back almost to the beginnings 

114 



of Colonial history, to within a generation of the land- 
ing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Certainly there are 
comparatively few American towns which can boast an 
antiquity ec|ual to our own. 

"We do not, however, pride ourselves chiefly or even 
greatly, on our longevity. The question that history 
asks inexorably of nations, of towns and of men is not 
How long have you lived? but What have you done? 
That question will be answered for Norwalk in many 
ways in the course of the present celebration. In con- 
nection with the exercises this afternoon I wish to call 
attention to the action of a town meeting held May 29, 
1678, when it was "voted and agreed" to hire a school- 
master to teach all the children in the town to read and 
write. Such is the record and it was fitting that in 
these anniversary observances the schools of the town 
that has continued faithful to this tradition should have 
a foremost place and that for them one day of the week 
should have been set apart. 

"It may be remembered that the Hon. Joseph H. 
Choate, our minister at the Court of St. James, on a cer- 
tain occasion when the virtues of the Pilgrim Fathers 
were highly lauded, took it upon himself to say a word for 
the Pilgrim Mothers, telling us that they not only en- 
dured all that the Pilgrim Fathers endured, but had 
to endure the Pilgrim Fathers besides. In this sub- 
ject of the witty advocate, which has come laughing 
down the years, there is a truth that gives it its point 
and force. In all our educational history we notice in 
the actual work of the school room the predominant in- 
fluence of woman. Of the 86 teachers at present em- 
ployed in the public schools of Norwalk, yj, or more 
than 90 per cent, are women. I suppose that the same 
proportion would hold good in other places. We are 
honored to-day by the presence of a lady who holds a 
position as teacher in a sister city of the state famed 
for its excellent schools. This lady has also won dictinc- 
tion as a writer and lecturer on educational topics. It 
gives me great pleasure to present to you Miss Mary 
Merriman Abbott, who will address you on the subject of 
'Yesterday, To-day and To-morrow.' " 

Miss Abbott pleased everybody by her witty, de- 
lightful manner. Her subject dealt chiefly with the 
schools of Connecticut. She told of the honorable rec- 
ord of our schools in the past. After touching on the 



lis 



schools of to-day she stated her hopes for the future of 
Connecticut's educational system. 

The scholars sang, "Columbia, the Gem of the 
Ocean." 

Next on the program was an address by Rev. Rom- 
illy f . Humphries, rector of Trinity Episcopal church, 
South Norwalk, who spoke on "Citizenship." He was 
introduced in the following words by Chairman Blanch- 
ard : 

"Ladies and gentlemen: — On two occasions during 
the school year just closed, when classes were graduated 
from our high school department, many of us listened 
with pleasure and profit to addresses by one of our fellow- 
townsmen. When it came to a choice of speakers for 
this afternoon, the name of this gentleman at once occur- 
red to the committee having this matter in charge. It is 
a great pleasure to introduce the Rev. Romilly F. Hum- 
phries, who will address us on the subject of 'Citizen- 
ship.' " 

"Fat'r America" and "Hail Columbia" were then 
sung. 

"The Men Who Made Connecticut" was the sub- 
ject of an address by Walter Seth Logan, Esq., president 
of the Sons of the American Revolution. 

Mr. Logan, who is a large, stately looking man, made 
a hit with his audience from the start. He opened his 
address in a voice that could easily be heard in all parts 
of the hall, and the little ones forgot their discomfort to 
applaud his witty points. 

His subject was "The Men Who Made Connecti- 
cut," but this was thrown to the winds, as he started in 
to relate some funny stories that promptly convulsed his 
hearers. He didn't know whether it was a good thing 
for New York when he removed to that state, but he 
knew it was good for Connecticut when he left. He ob- 
jected to the heat; he had 250 pounds heated, while 
most of his hearers had less than 100 pounds. "I haven't 
much to say, and I can't say it very well," was the prom- 
inent lawyer's plea, and it tickled the youngsters nearly 
to death. "If I'm not talking loud enough, just let me 
know," bellowed the speaker. "When I was a baby I 
could yell louder than any other baby in Litchfield coun- 
ty." lie believed in the rights of children and one of 
these rights was that they should not be cooped up in a 
building on a hot September afternoon. This was a 
government by representation; let your teachers repre- 

na 



sent you, and you go out and play in the grass. The 
children promptly climbed in their seats and yelled for 
Mr. Logan. 

Mr. Logan referred to the signs Concord and Frank- 
lin, which referred to the schools, and said the names 
were of Revolutionary significance. He spoke of 
Franklin's victory over nature and said that the victories 
of science were greater than those of war. 

"The men who made Connecticut are living to-day," 
declared the speaker. "Those who will make Connec- 
ticut are before me to-day." 

'T am proiid of my descent from the old makers of 
Connecticut. One of my forefathers was Rev. Thomas 
Hooker, who carried the Bible in one hand and a gun 
in the other. He fought the devil on Sunday and wild 
Indians the other six days. Connecticut was settled by 
the purest of the Saxon blood, a race that is noted for its 
determination and self reliance." 




117 



THE EVENING OF SEPTEMBER TENTH 




F all great crowds that ever assembled 
in or around the Norwalk armory that 
which gathered this evening, to attend 
the "Evening With Aboriginal Nor- 
waake," the opening festivity of the 
quartermillennial celebration of The 
Norwalks, was the greatest. With 
public celebrations, as with county 
fairs, the crowd makes the success. The entire western 
section of the state seemed to have turned itself inside out 
to make this night's afifair a success. Hundreds and hun- 
dreds of people clamored at the doors of the great hall 
an hour before it was opened. As many more congrega- 
ted around the scene of the opening ceremonies of the 
evening, which were held in the Marvin lot near the ar- 
mory, the ushers found it almost impossible to control 
the crowd, and the armory, the largest available building, 
was filled long before the Indians arrived. 

The jam at the door was terrific. Women and chil- 
dren were all but trampled under foot, and after a min- 
ute or two of the struggle left the building only to be re- 
placed by as many more anxious ones. Tickets for re- 
served seats found no respect in the crowd and the par- 
ticipants who arrived late were scarcely able to get 
through with the aid of the policemen. Some gave it up 
and went home. 

During the ceremonies in the open air trees in the 
neighborhood Avere lined with youngsters who tore ofif 
limbs in their anxiety to see the doings of the Red Men. 
The line-up on the top of the bill boards in the lot was so 
close that when one lad lost his balance in the middle of 
the ceremony and fell to the ground, fifteen feet below, 
he took four or five of his companions with him. 

The opening ceremony was the burning of Ischoda 
or peace fire, famous in the nation's history and originally 
presided over by the chieftain Uncas on the banks of the 
Hudson. This fire was alwavs built before a celebration. 
The braves would smoke the pipe of peace around it and 
then march around it three times, bearing the miniature 
wigv\^am of beads, all of which was an invocation to the 
spirits. 

The evening's functions were a repretition of these 
ceremonies by the Improved Red Men of to-day, the 

118 



whole being given under the direction of Rev. Charles 
M. Selleck. It was a portrayal of the lesser Ischoda, or 
camp-fire of the Connecticut Mohawks. This was a cus- 
tom of the Mohawks, from whom the Connecticut tribes 
came, and not of the Pequots. It was always built on a 
meadow. 

The Norwalk Red Men were the first to arrive. The 
campfire had already been started by a delegation under 
the direction of George W. Raymond. There were 
about thirty in the Norwalk delegation. The South 
Norwalk delegation did not arrive until some time later. 
They were in full regalia and each tribe had its tom-toms 
and their tom-tom beaters. The Red Men were paint- 
ed, and the costumes of the principal characters were 
especially fine. 

Rev. Mr. Selleck opened the ceremonies with a 
prayer. Then the braves formed in line, the stalwart 
King Catona in the lead, with his white buckskin suit 
and feathers showing ofif to fine advantage. 

The real ceremony centered around the beaded 
wigwam that was carried before the procession, usually 
by two young pages, but in this instance by two braves, 
Fred Benger and William Thompson. The wigwam 
was quite a novel creation. The wooden frame came 
from the grave of the great Ponus in New Canaan ; the 
beads were a gift, and the whole was the handiwork of 
Mrs. James Lawrence Stevens. The wigwam was car- 
ried on a large silver salver, and at the side of it were 
bracelets also of beads. 

After the procession had gone around the fire three 
times, it left the circle and commenced a parade up and 
down the avenue, after which it made its way into the 
armory, the braves bearing redfire in the meanwhile. 
The braves who bore the wigwam waited in front of the 
stage until the others had taken their seats on the stage, 
and then they placed the wigwam at the feet of the king. 



119 



THE HISTORICAL TABLEAUX 




HE event inside of the Armory was the 
presentation of seven historical tab- 
leaux connected with the early history 
of Norwalk and its founders. 

John H. Ferris presided in the 
absence of F.'St. John Lockwood, who 
was ill and he announced that Rev. 
Mr. Selleck would interpret the tab- 
leaux. 

The Indian cast for the tableaux was : 

Catonah, Julius A. Hubbell. 

His son, Frederick B. Malkin. 

Aratomah, John D. Milne. 

Ponus, James H. Flynn. 

Three princes, Asa Decker, Frank Wehrle, Samuel 
Norris. 

Powahay, Joseph W. Howe. 

Mahackemo, George Fisher. 

Marakame, W. A. Thompson. 

Pemenante, Thomas Robbins. 

Mamackimo, George Quick. 

Cockenoe, Fred Benger. 

Tomekergo, George H. Hirst. 

Proserwamemos, Hugh Durkin. 

Tokameke, Aaron Decker. 

Winnipauk, G. C. Meehan. 

Braves, W. J. Wilcox, Edward Quick, George A. 
Shriver, WiHiam Rowe, F'rank L. Judd, Ross Malkin, E. 
Wilson, John Elliott, R. J. Bland. 

Adam, a slave, G. C. Meehan. 

Catonah's queen, Mrs. E. H. Hotchkiss. 

Her attendant, Mrs. David Hunt. 

The first on the program was the singing of "Ameri- 
ca" by the Glee Club, led by Fred Force, and the au- 
dience. 

Scene i. — Catonah, Sachem; Catonah's Queen, on 
the left; Wachamane, Catonah's son and successor, on 
the left of Queen; Aratomah on the right of Catonah. 
The last public act of Catonah's life was to deed to the 
Norwalk settlers the high lands, known to-day as Ridge- 
field. His traditional tomb and that of his Queen are 
preserved on the Judge John Jay estate in Westchester, 
N. Y. Ponus's title was Sachem of Rippowams. His 

130 



wigwam was on Ponus street, New Canaan. A path 
led from this home of the sachem to Norwalk. It is sup- 
posed that Pomis died soon after the EngHsh settled Nor- 
walk. 

The Red Men quartette, headed by George Hirst, 
rendered a selection. 

Scene 11. — Mahackemo was the Chief Sachem of 
Norwalk. He is supposed to have been a hunter. Nara- 
make and Pemanante were lesser sachems of what is now 
called Wilson's Point, where was something of an In- 
dian settlement. Winnipauk's home was in the oblong 
at the limits of the "twelve miles north" Norwalk boun- 
dary. 

Scene HI. — Roger Ludlow was the purchaser and 
evident founder of Norwalk. He was a brother-in-law 
of Governor John Endicott. He left the country in 1654, 
but his daughter Sarah (Mrs. Nathaniel Brewster) found- 
ed a family in this land and some of her descendants are 
residents, to-day, of Norwalk. He had two sons, Thomas 
and Jonathan, the second of whom is known to have sur- 
vived his father. Mrs. Ludlovvr died in Dublin, Ireland, 
June 3, 1664. 

This tableaux was a representation of a fact in Eng- 
lish history. Prince Edward, afterwards King Edward 
VI., was visiting the Ludlows at their castle. While 
there a courier arrives announcing the death of the 
prince's father, Henry VIII. It is this scene that the 
tableaux depicts. The 'characters were represented as 
follows: Roger Ludlow, John P. Treadwell ; Lady Lud- 
low, Mrs. E. J. Hill ; Thomas and Jonathan Ludlow, sons 
of Roger Manice Lockwood, Jr., and Russell Frost, Jr. ; 
Miss Sarah Ludlow, Mrs. Thomas L Raymond; Prince 
Edward, Kenneth Vernam ; courier, Major Fred A. Hill. 
Scene IV. — Mr. Ludlow, now of Fairfield, made a 
purchase on February 26, 1640, of the portion of Nor- 
walk embraced between the Norwalk and Saugatuck 
rivers, and extending some twelve miles north of the sea. 
Mahackemo was the prominent aboriginal party in this 
transaction. The treaty spot is supposed to have been 
in Saugatuck and deserves marking. 

The Glee Club rendered the selection "A Wet Sheet 
and a Flowing Sea." 

Scene V. — This painting spoke for itself. It repre- 
sents the first minister of Norwalk, Rev. Thomas Han- 
ford, attired as mentioned by Mather, in his robe of office 
and surrounded by his parishioners, some of whom are 

121 



depicted as engaged in the domestic occupation of those 
early times. Thomas Fitch, Matthew Marvin, Matthias 
St. John, Richard Sevmour, Richard Webb, Ralph Kee- 
ler are among the old families, some member of which 
IS represented in the painting, Richard Seymour was 
not Nonvalk long lived. One son left behind in Nor- 
walk was the father of all the Norwalk Seymours, while 
from the sons who accompanied their mother 'distin- 
guished men have descended. 

Those who took the parts in this scene were: Rev. 
Thomas Hanford, Winfield S. Hanford; Thomas Fitch, 
Colonel Samuel Daskam ; Ralph Keeler, Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor Keeler, Richard Seymour; Robert Seymour Van 
Buren; Mrs. Eliphalet Lockwood, Mrs. G. B. St. John; 
Puritan maiden, Miss Angeline Scott; Elizabeth Fitch, 
Miss Eunice Stevens; Mrs. St. John, Mrs. Ira Cole; the 
first Eversly, Charles Eversly Curtis ; member of Betts 
family, Miss Sarah Henderson ; of the Noble family, Mrs. 
Edwards Wilkinson and Miss Nash; Mrs. Richard Sey- 
mour, Mrs. Robert Van Buren; Ludlow goddess. Miss 
Alyse Gregory. 

A fitting feature of this tableaux was that the old 
characters were relineated by their descendants. 

Scene VL — John Elliot, the great Indian apostle, 
was taught the Indian tongue by a Long Island red man, 
Cockenoe, who lived in Norwalk for a time and has dis- 
tinct Norwalk record. 

Scene VII. — There can be little doubt, says the his- 
torian of Norwalk, that the future will accord to Roger, 
son of Thomas (Knight) and Jane Ludlow, of England, 
the honor of being not alone the purchaser'but the found- 
er of this ancient town. His name is lastingly Nor- 
walk associated and his honored memory is the town of 
Norwalk's honored legacy. This was one of the most 
efifective tableaux ever shown in Norwalk, and elicited 
thimders of applause. 

The young ladies who took part were: Misses 
Ethel Wilcox, Mary Nash, Elsie Hill, Gladys Morehouse, 
Ethel Ferris, Hattie Ferris. Charlotte Ferris, Elsie Cum- 
mings, Marion Cummings, Emily Nash, Margaret 
O'Brien, Anna Curtis, Blossom Smith, Edwina Knapp, 
Abbie Marvin, Mary Marvin, Alice O'Brien, Alice Ter- 
rell, Florence Baldwin, Alice Darrow, Mary Seymour, 
Gertrude Hotchkiss, Elizabeth Austin, Mary Betts, 
Hazel Lockwood, Eunice Stevens, Ruth Golding. 

The committee in charge of the dramatic work was 



123 



Charles Miller, Mrs. Charles H Naylor and Mrs. James 
Stevens, Thev were ably assisted by Miss Emily Lynes. 
They were a grand and unqualified success, and will 
go on record as one of the most noteworthy features of 
the celebration. 




123 




THIRD DAY, SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH 

[ HE events appointed for this day were 
as follows : 

1. Historic ride by trolley. 

2. Afternoon assembly for His- 
torical addresses. 

3. Home gathering and public 
speeches. 

The first event was given in honor 
of the invited guests of the town and was under direction 
of the Norwalk Chapter, Daughters of the American 
Revolution, of which Mrs. Samuel Richards Weed is Re- 
gent. The Historian, Rev. C. M. Selleck, accompanied 
the party. The trolley cars were gaily decorated and 
started from the Armory soon after 9 a. m. The points 
visited were as follows: 

1 Benedict House — Here Gen. Garth, of Tryon's in- 
vading army, in 1779, left his wounded men until his 
return to his boats at Old Well. 

2 Garth's Magazine — Here he left his ammunition, 
while on his destroying march, for a short time — so 
claimed. 

3 Ponus's Path — Led to the Sachem Ponus Home, in 
West New Canaan. 

4 Pynchon Descendant's House — Where Margaret 
Pvnchon Keeler lived, who was a descendant of one 
of the Connecticut River Tods, so called. 

5 La Fayette's Inn — Gen. La Fayette here stopped and 
was received by Norwalk people, in 1824. 

5 Madam Knight's Bridge — This distinguished trav- 
eler tells of this bridge at "Whitney's Mill," which 
she crossed early in the i8th centur)^ 

7 The "Old Spring" House — Where resided Capt, Ja- 
bez Gregory, one of the pioneer settlers. 

8 Home of the Parents of Gen. W. T. Sherman, from 
whence they started to find their home in Norwalk, 
Ohio. 

9 Site Where Jesse Lee Preached His First Sermon 
in Norwalk — He was the founder of Methodism in 
Connecticut. 

ic The Old Whitney House — Well known in early 

Norwalk. 
II The Residence of Relatives of Sir Garnett Wolesly, 

recent commander-in-chief of the army of Great 

Britain. 

izi 



12 Site of Old Town House — Before Revolutionary 
War ; do not know date of its building. 

13 Whitney's Hill — Named after Henry Whitney, the 
ancient Norwalk miller. 

14 Whitney's Plain — The Norwalk Green — called after 
the old miller. 

15 Chancellor Kent's Schoolboy Home — The great 
jurist here lived for a little time with his grandfather 
and attended school. 

16 President Timothy Dwight's Ancestors' Home — 
President Dwight here visited, and he received, by 
inheritance, Norwalk land. 

17 Grumman's Hill — On East Avenue, where General 
Tryon sat when Noi"v\-alk was burned, 1779. 

18 Cannon Home — Here "Commodore" John Cannon 
lived. 

19 Site of Third Meeting House — Old glass has here 
been found, the remains of window glazing. Tryon 
burnt the church. 

20 Parsonage — Belonging to First Congregational 
Church. The earliest. 

21 Colonel Thomas Fitch's Home Cottage — Bought by 
Governor Thomas Fitch while his son. Colonel 
Thomas, was absent to the Northern wars. 

22 "Yankee Doodle" House — The grounds — not house 
— of Colonel Thomas Fitch, in derision of whose 
scantily and varied kind of uniform the verses of 
"Yankee Doodle" were composed by the British. 

23 Gov. Thomas Fitch's Home — Lived and died here. 
He was one of the first Governors of Connecticut. 

24 Site of Second Meeting — On "Meeting House Hill," 
now site of residence of Rev. Dr. Augustus F. 
Beard, on East Avenue. 

25 Hon. Samuel Fitch's Home Cottage — The timbers 
of the old house are still in existence, it is believed, 
and retained. 

26 Site of First Meeting House — One window — sup- 
posed to have been inclosed by a palisade for the 
protection against the Indians. 

27 Rev. Thomas Hanford's Home — Where first minis- 
ter lived — the old well is still standing. 

28 Old Cemetery — Where the town settlers were buried 
— -now in charge of the Norwalks' Historical and 
Memorial Library Association, by authority of the 
Legislature. 

U6 



29 Site of Old Blacksmith Shop — Remnants of iron 
have been found here. 

30 Site of First School House — Here the children of 
perhaps the second generation of settlers were 
taught. ' 

31 Fort Point — An Indian fortification against the 
Dutch and Indians. A ferry at this point connected 
the two sides of Norwalk river, near the Railroad 
bridge. 

32 The Roger Ludlow Monument — Marks the vicinity 
of the spot where the purchase of the site was ar- 
ranged by Roger Ludlow in 1640. 

33 Landing of Tryon on the shore — Now marked by a 
stone with proper inscription. The British landed 
here in July 1779. 

34 Opening shot at Garth's Men — Fired by a Raymond, 
it is supposed, from this spot, which it is believed 
embittered the British against the Americans. 

35 General Sherman's Ancestors' Flome — The Hoyt 
house, where Mary Hoyt, mother of General Wil- 
liam T. and Hon. John Sherman was born and lived 
until her marriage. 

The ride was devised by Mrs. Weed, Regent of the 
Norwalk Chapter, in response to a call from the Execu- 
tive Committee of the celebration, and was thoroughly 
enjoyed by all the participants. It is proper to add that 
if the limit had been extended and carriages had been 
substituted for trolley cars, the number of historic spots, 
including several which have been marked by the Nor- 
walk Chapter, D. A. R., could easily have been doubled. 

AFTERNOON EXERCISES, SEPT. nth. 

In the Armory on the afternoon there was a large 
audience. Hon. E. J. Hill presided. 

MUSIC, Band 

NATIONAL HYMN To Thee, O Country 

PRAYER, 

Rev. Charles A. Downs. 

MQSIC, Band 

HISTORICAL ADDRESS, "The Building of Norwalk." 
Rev. Augustus Field Beard, D.D. 

MUSIC, Star Spangled Baner 

POEM, "A Sweet and Hallowed Time." 

Rev. John Gaylord Davenport, D.D. 

188 



ADDRESS, 

Hon. Orville H. Pratt, United States Senator, Connecticut. 
ANTHEM, 

Composed by Mr. Alexander S. Gibson. 
BENEDICTION. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

(By Augustus Field Beard, D. D.) 

THE BUILDING OF NORWALK. 

The founders of Norwalk were not an aesthetic 
people, but they must have recognized and rejoiced in 
the natural beauty of their location. There was enough 
to excite the admiration of the pioneers in thelandscapes 
which greeted them — the outlook on the beautiful inland 
sea, with the islands like pearls 'on its bosom, the in- 
dented shores beckoning the crested waves and setting 
the bounds to their welcome. But the delightful land- 
scapes of 'to-day were to them not altogether gladsome. 
Wild nature at once made a sharp challenge upon their 
courage and patience. Great tracts of unbroken wooded 
country confronted them. In the openings of the forest, 
weeds and thorns, decaying and decayed wood from 
fallen trees — the debris of centuries — swamps from un- 
drained land, Hke one 'vast sponge, hoarding the rains 
of summer and treasuring the snows of winter, asked 
for something other than pleasant emotions from these 
rugged men and brave women, heroic together in their 
faith and enterprise. Here, where since creation no 
man ever built a home — unless the wigwam of the rest- 
less Indian might be called a home — came thirty 
families to put smiles and laughter in our landscapes 
as they reclaimed the wilderness. 

Let us look at these, our ancestors. To do so we 
must remember that their settlement here was not impro- 
vised when they came from Hartford and Windsor. The 
events which both formed their characters and shaped 
their history, had their roots extending quite as widely 
into times before their day as the branches have stretched 
out since they came. Great 'influences had been work- 
ing in patient continuity through centuries, never halting 
in God's purpose and never abrupt in their movements, 
by which their minds were met, directed and prepared 



for the events which asked for their choices and their 
decisions. Like other settlements of this period, the 
story of Norwalk has a great background of history. 

To interrogate it no further back than when our 
ancestors were children, we find a wonderful age of men- 
tal activity in England, which had its far beginnings in 
the renaissance — the revival of learning — in Europe. 
With this quickening of intellectual life came a new intel- 
ligence, with a remarkable succession of inventions and 
discoveries, and, better yet, with new conceptions of life 
and of the religious freedom and responsibility of man, 
which began to change the whole order of society and to 
widen the whole domain of thought and inquiry. Eng- 
land especially felt this new mental energy. But with 
this quickening of popular thought came conflict be- 
tween the old tyrannies over the minds of men and the 
new forces of intelligence: a growing demand for per- 
sonal, religious and political liberty, and a determined 
and cruel resistance to "this demand, which in the time 
of our ancestors made the pages of England a crimson 
history. The chariot wheels of God do not turn back- 
ward, and when people had come to realize that the 
divine right of many not only is better but also has bet- 
ter foundations than the divine right of any one, though 
he may be seated on a throne, no penalties could con- 
vince them to the contrary, and exile in a wilderness in- 
habited only by savage men and savage beasts seemed 
happiness in comparison with the surrender of their con- 
victions. It was this spirit which peopled the rocky 
coasts of Plymouth in 1620, and later in 1630 sent the 
succeeding colonies to Salem, Charlestown, Boston, 
V\/'atertown, Mystic, Dorchester and Lynn, in the Mas- 
sachusetts Bay Company, with its seventeen ships, and 
John Winthrop, Governor, and Roger Ludlow, one of 
the Magistrates. 

The leaders of this Company were remarkable men. 
Roger Ludlow, now forty years of age, was one of these 
leaders. The followers were not quite ordinary men. 
They were men of strong character, picked men, though 
most of them had ordinary attainments. They had taken 
on the healthy discontent at home. They had been in- 
oculated with the ideas of religious freedom and politi- 
cal liberty. They saw 'no future for themselves or their 
descendants at home. They came here for a future. 
Their thoughts went beyond the present. Nor is it 
necessary to believe that in their heavenly considerations 



they were altogether oblivious of earthly advantages. 

Not a few of those who hungered and thirsted after 
righteousness had the land hunger also, and were willing 
to work for both together in the wilderness. They could 
only look at the land in England ; they could get it here. 
This is not to say that no mere adventurers worked them- 
selves in. The river which starts from the pure streams 
of the everlasting hills, on its onward sweep to the sea, 
always bears upon it not only the rich freights of com- 
merce, but also the logs and rubbish which have fallen 
in. This colonization, however, was comparatively free 
from restless and unstable elements. 

This Bay Colony settled mainly in Dorchester, and 
here Roger Ludlow lived four years. He was honored 
in Dorchester, but not enough for his ambitions. Dis- 
appointed, he turned his thoughts to the formation of a 
Colony on the Connecticut River, and finally gained perx 
mission for this. Many followed him in this new emi- 
gration, and after a fourteen days' journey — for they did 
not take the express trains, which now make it in four 
hours — they came to their destinations. The party 
divided, some choosing Hartford, some Wethersfield, 
and others going with Ludlow to Windsor. Here he 
was again recognized by the Connecticut colony for his 
masterly ability, and became Deputy Governor; but 
feeling that he was not recognized enough, after four 
years at Windsor, as at Dorchester, he sought new con- 
ditions. The General Court at Hartford granted him a 
commission to begin a plantation at Pequannocke, now 
Bridgeport. Instead of doing this he settled at what is 
now Fairfield, giving its name. For exceeding his com- 
mission he was reprimanded by the General Court, but 
his purchase was confirmed, and, though irregular, was 
sagacious. 

On February 26, 1640, he was residing in Fairfield, 
for it was then — apparently on his own personal respon- 
sibility, also — that he purchased from the Indians of Nor- 
walk the territory which now constitutes the eastern part 
of it, viz.: "the grounds between the Twoe Rivers, the 
one called Norwalke, the other Soakatuck to the middle 
of saved Rivers a day's walke into the country." 

As the name of Roger Ludlow is inseparably con- 
nected with the beginnings of Norwalk, it may be well to 
follow his history. He was either Assistant or Deputy 
Governor of Connecticut every year for nineteen years. 
In 1639 it was he who drew the Constitution of Connec- 

.IM 



ticut under which our fathers lived, which continued in 
force, with scarcely any alterations, for one hundred and 
eighty years, and which historians unite to say is "the 
first written Constitution known to history which 
created a Government," and which made Connecticut 
absolutely a State. "It embodied all the essential fea- 
tures of subsequent States, and gave to Connecticut a 
pre-eminent place in Constitutional history." This Con- 
stitution received its chief inspiration from the greatest 
mind in Connecticut at this time, the Rev. Thomas 
Hooker, of Hartford ; but it called for the first legal mind 
in New England to give this Constitution form and ex- 
pression, and justly ranks him as the greatest lawyer in 
the Colonies and among the leading statesmen of his age. 

On the 20th of April following Ludlow's purchase 
Capt. Daniel Patrick secured a deed from the Indians 
"from the middle of the river to a western bound called 
Noewanton," including two islands, and "as farr up in 
the country as an Indian can goe in a day, from sun 
risinge to sun settinge." This Patrick, a soldier by pro- 
fession and a soldier of fortune by nature and character 
was one of the drifts into the Bay Colony and had 
drifted here. He came to a violent death, the record 
reading: "He was killed by a Dutchman, who shot him 
dead with a pistol." 

Ludlow held his purchase for ten years, when he 
sold it to the founders of Norwalk for the sum of £15, 
which included interest, with the principal for his ori- 
ginal outlay. History does not tell us who may have 
projected the settlement of Norwalk. We only know 
that Ludlow, having reserved a lot for his sons, young 
lads at this date, to the value of £200, made over the deed 
to the territory here, stipulating that the plantation 
should be begun within a given time, to be taken up by 
no less than thirty families, and that, once here, they 
should invite an orthodox and approved minister "with 
all convenient speed." Moreover, that "they will not 
receive in any that they be obnoxious to the publique 
good of the Commonwealth of Connecticut." These con- 
ditions were inserted in Ludlow's deed in accordance 
with a Connecticut law at that time, which was that be- 
fore a company should be allowed to enter upon the work 
of a new settlement, the General Court required that 
they should prove themselves capable of colonizing a 
town and of maintaining a minister. 

Nathaniel Ely and Richard Olmstead, in behalf of 



180 



themselves and others, at a session of the General Court 
of Connecticut, obtained "approbation of the Court for 
the planting of Norwalk," having made the previous 
arrangement with Roger Ludlow for his interests on the 
east side of the river. 

Ludlow continued to live in Fairfield until 1654, 
when for raising a little home-made army on his own 
account, to make war on the Dutch — a. rash act but in- 
spired by patriotism — he again incurred the displeasure 
of the General Court at Hartford and again received 
a reprimand. This, and the fact that he had just been 
fined at New Haven for telling a woman she lied — 
which was probably correct — and for suggesting that she 
was a witch — and she was queer — made him particularly 
sore. Feeling that he was unjustly humiliated and had 
lost his prestige, he determined to return to England, 
which he did. 

Roger Ludlow possessed many elements of great- 
ness. He was a man of political sagacity and prophetic 
vision, and was a sound exponent of political and re- 
ligious liberty. The fact that he was mentally arbitrary, 
and indisposed to allow authority to stand in the way of 
his personal wishes, stood in his way, and in the way of 
his highest ambitions. When he left the colony under 
a sense of injury and disappointment, he also left it under 
lasting obligations for the twenty-four' years of his event- 
ful and fruitful life in it, which merit and will have the 
acknowledgments of candid history. 

I would be glad if I could, to claim so famous a 
man as Roger Ludlow as the founder of Norwalk. All 
that history says is, that Ludlow purchased of the Indians 
the eastern part' of Norwalk and resold it to the planters. 
Whatever this transaction makes him in relation to Nor- 
walk, that he was. There is nothing easier to believe 
than that we would like to believe. He certainly is en- 
titled to be called the Founder of Fairfield. For one I 
am not gifted with sufficient creative, or at least, interpre- 
tative imagination to enable me to call him the founder 
of Norwalk. 

These planters also obtained a confirmation to 
themselves of Capt. Patrick's purchase, and on the 
February following, secured a deed from Ruckineage 
and other Indians for an additional tract west of Pat- 
rick's purchase at Routon. 

The spring of 165 1 found the planters on their way 
here, with their slim household effects and their cattle. 



in 



Th€ women rode on horses, the men tramped, and all 
encamped where night overtook them, until they 
reached this promised land. Tradition — which -is doubt- 
less well founded — has it, that they were welcomed by 
some who had spent the previous winter here, anticipat- 
ing the necessities of the company. They were as to age 
mostly in middle life. They were families. Of those 
fearless women who bore their husbands' names history is 
silent. It were fairer history had it told us something 
of the fairer part of that company who bore their full 
share in the sacrifices of those early days, and without 
whom the settlement here would have been impossible. 

These Nor walk planters did not have among them 
eminent men. They were simply honest, earnest Eng- 
lishmen and women, who in their early years had shown 
character and resolution enough to break with hostile 
conditions, and to leave a land that was unkind. Hol- 
lister — the historian of Connecticut — finds, however, that 
"more than four-fifths of the early landed proprietors of 
Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor" — whence came our 
ancestors — "belonged to families which had arms granted 
to them in Great Britain." Whatever their ancestry, 
they were r^ere battling with nature, making for them- 
selves not the records of family pedigree, but the patents 
of extraordinary history. Their home discontent was 
quickened, no doubt, by the instinct of colonization, 
which is natural to many, and which enables us tO' under- 
stand in part, why it v/as, that after previous settlements 
had become comfortable, so many were moved to leave 
them and to penetrate anew into the deeper wilderness 
west. It was the stirring of that same instinct which has 
ever since been whispering of boundless possibilities fur- 
ther on, in the magic words "go west," and which begin- 
ning with the Pilgrims, has belted the continent with 
their descendants and their ideas. Our ancestors read in 
their Bibles — their one book, which they literally ac- 
cepted — "The earth is the Lord's." They had the assur- 
ance that they were the Lord's people. They read, "The 
meek shall inherit the earth," and they appropriated both 
the text and the territory. 

The names of Noru^alk's founders are in the ancient 
records. Among them are some very familiar now: 
Fitch, Marvin, Gregory, Hoyt, Bouton, Ely, Holmes. 
Keeler, Morgan, Olnistead, Richards, St. John, Seymour, 
and, a little later, Benedict, Betts, Belden, Church, Com-r 



18S 



stock, Ketcham, Lockwood, Nash, Raymond, Stewart 
and Taylor. 

Once here and organized, the "Towne Street" was 
staked out, that part of East avenue which extends from 
the ancient burial ground to the top of Earl Hill. Home 
lots were assigned, other land being held in common. 
The limitation of about four acres was for the sake of 
compactness and common safety. It is pleasant for us 
to be able accurately to locate these early homes. 

The building of their shelters was the first necessity. 
This meant the beginning of the end of the forests. The 
trees swayed and fell, but with their departed pride came 
their usefulness. Log upon log the little cabin struc- 
tures arose. The floors, when not of the solid earth, 
were of split logs as smooth as their axes could hew 
them. The seed for the next season must be got into the 
ground as soon as the patches could be made ready. 
These were busy days. Meanwhile the women were not 
meeting in their respective clubs. They were "stepping 
lively" at home. These men did not convert trees into 
habitations living on faith only. The inner man could 
have faith, but it took the outer man to swing an axe 
and to dig the soil that never had been disturbed since 
it was created ; and the outer man called for his break- 
fast, dinner and supper. Besides, everyone knows that 
eating is one of the English traits. It was already a 
characteristic before 1651. Their m.eals were not served 
in course, but they were served of course, and if not 
elaborate, yet were substantial that iron might be in the 
blood of these hungry English pioneers. The next door 
neighbor of this nev/ settlement was Stamford, ten years 
old. New Haven, also, where Davenport had led his 
followers thirteen years before this settlement, was ac- 
cessible. Ihere could, therefore, be some trading from 
the first. 

We read, for example, in our town records, that a 
corn mill, which had been erected almost immediately, 
did not prove satisfactory, and that in 1654 it was voted 
to discontinue it. There had been a grist mill in Stam- 
ford for nearly ten years. The planters were thus tided 
over the bars until three years later a second corn mill 
was erected,' which answered until a third one was pro- 
vided. 

After the dwellings and the absolute and immediate 
provisions for life were assured, they turned their first 
attention to the erection of a "meeting house." Their 

133 



theory was that the people themselves were the church, 
and the meeting house was for the people. Without 
stretching their logic much, they came to think when 
they met in it, to transact town business, that this was 
church work. Accordingly, on the 22d 'of May, 1655, 
after four years of meetings with Rev. Thomas Hanford, 
preaching where he might, they voted "to send after the 
nayles for the meeting house with all speed." Their 
idea of speed, or at least their realization of it, may be 
noted from the fact that three years and eight months 
subsequent, the meeting house was yet only an idea. 
One cannot drive "nayles" into an idea nor into a vote. 
The meeting house, however, became a reality, "thirty 
foot in length and eighteen foot in width." 

As the years rolled on the wilderness was incessantly 
invaded by these determined workers. Lots as they were 
reclaimed were planted and fenced, orchards were begun, 
gardens were cultivated. The rude log cabins with their 
oil-papered windows gave way to framed houses with 
massive timbers, with two rooms on the lower floor and 
the great stone chimney in the centre, and little diamond- 
shaped glass windows. Those within the house were 
patient workers also. We read of no servants in the kit- 
chens. The "lady of the house" was cook, laundress, 
soap maker, candle maker, tailoress, dressmaker, shirt 
maker, stocking knitter and general repairer, and there 
were growing children in the family. The Indian bread 
and corn bread, the samp and hominy, the succotash — 
the art of which they had learned from the Indians — the 
bean soup or porridge, the hasty corn puddings for the 
table, repeated their invitations three times a day for 
seven days in the week. For meats there was wild game 
galore. Wild turkeys, partridges, quails, wild geese and 
pigeons in their season^ and wild ducks, with bear meat 
and venison — which were abundant — helped to spare the 
lives of their sheep, swine and poultry. Wild straw- 
berries and blackberries, whortleberries and wild grapes 
were plentiful. The fish of the streams and the fish of 
the salt water, bluefish — and especially bass — were easily 
obtained, and the shellfish, to which we are accustomed, 
were found in rich abundance. Then there was the wool 
to be carded and spun, the flax to be rotted, -hackled and 
dressed for their own weaving. As the cloth gave out, 
many a lad 'and man wore his daily garments, in the style 
of short clothes, made of the skins of animals ; made at 
home and often "fearfully and wonderfully made." 



184 



Preparing tea and coffee, however, did not add to 
the household burdens. There were neither of these in 
Norwalk for a hundred years to come, and among their 
vegetables, probably the potato, a rare vegetable as yet, 
had no place. Their pewter plates and dishes must be 
made to shine like silver, but they were spared the neces- 
sity of care fo^ their forks, since they never saw one. 
Nor was much time used in millinery. Hoods and sun- 
bonnets went with them to the meeting house and horne- 
spun was correct fashion. Calico was as costly as silk. 

I have not mentioned their special environments. 
Wolves were not dangerous, but they were troublesome. 
Bears would have been unwelcome neighbors but for 
the fact that they could be made serviceable. The In- 
dians were relatively- few, numbering about six thousand 
in the entire State, or twelve hundred warriors. Those 
in Norwalk were ready for friendly alliance with the set- 
tlers. Some entered the service of these English far- 
mers, learning meanwhile the English tongue. One 
Norwalk Indian did this to good purpose, namely, 
Cockanoe, who taught his Indian language to the great 
Indian apostle Eliot. I quote Eliot's own testimony: 
'T found a pregnant-witted young man who had been 
a servant in an English house, who pretty well under- 
stood our language, and well understood his own, and 
hath a clear pronunciation. Him I made my interpre- 
ter. By his help I translated the Commandments and 
many texts of Scripture." Peaceable as the Norwalk 
Indians were, they were nevertheless Indians, and the 
weapons of our ancestors were ever ready in the field 
and in the house of worship. 

So far as the records show, the subject of education 
did not greatly add to the burdens of the people. One 
generation probably had to content itself with such in- 
struction as could be acquired at home. There may pos- 
sibly have been public instruction previous to the time 
of the first record of it, but twenty-seven years had 
passed before the vote is recorded, that Mr. Cornish was 
engaged "to teach all the children to lerne to read and 
write." It does not appear that the gentle art of spelling 
hfld then been discovered. The spelling of their records 
was according to the moods of the one who made words 
his agents, but would not submit to their being his mas- 
ter. Almost any combination would do, with a supreme 
mdifference as to how the words came out, and if they 
were never twice alike, as they seldom were, it only added 



135 



to the interest in the way of a pleasurable variety. In 
1686 Mr. Cornish was again "hiered for that cervice." 
There was a school law made by the General Court in 
1644, for air the settlements in the colony, "That every 
township, after the Lord hath increased them to the num- 
ber of fifty households, shall forthwith appoint one to 
teach all such children, as shall resort to him, to read 
and write, and when any town shall increase to the num- 
ber of one hundred families, they shall set up a grammar 
school." You may imagine the school house of those 
days, twenty feet square — with a fireplace — the pupils 
seated on benches made of slabs, supported by straddling 
wooden legs set into augur holes. Few of the children 
had books. Blackboards they never saw. The ink usu- 
ally was made of soot and vinegar, and the ink bottle of 
leather. The main text book was the Bible, but they had 
lessons in ancient and general history so far as to learn, 
that 

"In Adam's fall 
We sin-ned all." 

There were in the settlement at this time one hundred 
and thirteen children. 

In 1681 the second meeting house, "forty foot square 
and sixteene foot between joynts," the great geographical 
monument of the town — as our Town House now is — 
was erected, and Thomas Barnum was "appoynted for to 
over see and keep good Decorum amongst the youth 
in times of exercise on the Sabbath and other Publique 
meetings, and the Towne doe impower him if he see 
any disorderly for to keep a small stick to correct with, 
oneley he is Desired to do it with Clemency." At the 
end of the first thirty years the one street, then but little 
more than a cart path, had not extended from the ceme- 
tery beyond the top of Earl Hill, and the Indian's trails 
were the white man's highways. 

We may remember also that during all this period 
there was not what we call a store of 'any kind in the 
settlement. It was the age of barter. We read neither 
of a physician, lawyer or dentist. 

At this period there were twenty-five settled towns 
in Connecticut, with twenty-one churches. 

In 1694 — forty-three years after the settlement — the 
names of fourteen of the founders still appear on the re- 
cords. The Rev. Thomas Hanford had finished his min- 
istry of forty-one years and had died in 1693. Mrs. Han- 

186 



ford lived until 1730, and died at the age of one hundred 
years. When fifty years had ended, the little compact 
settlement had gradually expanded up the river towards 
the bridge and the mill — over the river at the "Old Well" 
and towards New Canaan and Saugatuck. The paths 
were being worked into roads rough and rocky. The 
children and grandchildren of the founders were now the 
social forces. 

With the year 1700 we may say that the pioneer 
stage had ended. I have spent time upon it, because 
the original stamp is not obliterated and the type is per- 
sistent. I meet men now in Norwalk whom I think the 
fathers would immediately recognize as the seventh or 
eighth editions of the original, the same text in modem 
binding. 

As the outward circumstances of the people gradu- 
ally improved, society took on another cast. The out- 
side world was coming nearer, Boston, with now a 
population of 17,000 and New York a large village, were 
accessible. In 1721 the first newspaper was published 
in New York. Travel between Boston and New York 
now and then enlivened the isolated life of the town. 
Norwalk was getting out of the woods. In 1723 the 
third meeting house was erected on the same street still 
further north. Soon the town granted to the inhabi- 
tants of Saugatuck permission to have their own min- 
ister, and a little later the same liberty to New Canaan, 
and 1734 to the "Professors of the Church of England," 
freeing them from all obligation to the "Ancient Prime 
Society." 

The houses at this time were "indifferent" — gener- 
ally a story and a half in front and sloping to the rear to 
within six or eight feet of the ground. But if there were 
as yet no colonial mansions in Norwalk, there were grow- 
ing up some notable children. Thomas Fitch, grandson 
of the first Thomas — original settler — had entered the 
young Yale College, not yet out of its own teens, and 
was graduated in 1721. He studied theology, was 
licensed to preach, and did preach in his home church 
several times. For some reason he directed his atten- 
tion to law and civil government and became eminent 
as chief justice of the colony, Lieutenant-Governor of 
the Colony, and afterwards Governor for a period of 
twelve years, from 1754 to 1766. When the odious 
stamp act was being considered by the British Parlia- 
ment, and the news reached Hartford, the General As- 



187 



sembly ordered a document to be prepared, protesting 
against the measure. This was drawn up by Governor 
Fitch in a paper of great clearness, insisting upon the 
light of the colonies to tax themselves, and "shows," 
says Hollister, "an intimate acquaintance with the prin- 
ciples of the British Constitution and the rights of the 
subject under it that is unsurpassed by any paper origin- 
ating in any other colony during that exciting period." 
If Governor Fitch did not live to share in the Declaratfon 
of Independence he was yet one of the fathers of it. 

There was also his greatly distinguished son, who 
figured in the French and Indian wars, from 1754 to 
1763 — in which Norwalk's patriotic grandsons of the first 
settlers had a full share of service, at Cape Breton, Louis- 
burg, Montmorenci and Crown Point. While Governor 
Fitch was honoring his native town as the head of the 
Connecticut colony, his son, Col. Thomas Fitch, was 
leading his soldiers in the battle of Crown Point. Sel- 
leck's history is my authority for saying that while he 
was thus engaged, an English ofBcial, in derision of the 
appearance of his Continental command near East Al- 
bany, wrote the jargon which has become national — 

"Yankee Doodle came to town 
Riding on a pony," 

and it is the historian's personal conviction that the 
horse thus made immortal also came from'Norwalk. 

The boyhood neighbor of Col. Fitch, and who mar- 
ried his sister, was another descendant of ' Capt. John 
Thacher, who commanded with great valor the galley 
"Lady Washington" in the battle of Lake Champlain, 
and who being wounded and captured by the British, 
had his sword returned to him in recognition of his 
bravery. 

Thus the development of the colonies — and of the 
town — was going on, and with it the unconscious, but 
steady, evolution of the Englishman into the 'Yankee, 
with their fundamental differentiations. The climate, 
the abrogation of the caste feeling which lives upon rank 
and titles, continued to evolve a distinctive spirit and 
traits. Environment was changing the characteristics 
or heredity. The English face and features were passing 
and the special qualities of the American appeared. The 
contentions, which had been somewhat sharp, between 
the motherland and the colonies had already slackened 

138 



the loyalty of many, so that they were not unready in 
spirit and temper for the Declaration of Independence 
in 1776, when the evolution of the Englishman into the 
Yankee was completed. 

This colonial period of transition has much of 
interest in it, as the comforts and luxuries of the old 
world came to the new. 

The church was still the germ of the town and in 
the meeting house the people were still divided in their 
worship as they were in the days of their fathers. The 
old men in one place, the old dames in another, the 
young men and maidens prudently removed far apart, 
nourished their faith and their principles. 

They took their time for it. There, in the presence 
of Almighty God, it was not for man to be in haste. Not 
for short prayers nor short sermons did they congre- 
gate. They settled themselves down for a regular 
religious siege, which would not be raised for three or 
five hours. Sermons and prayers in our day are not of 
this longtitude, but the sermons now are much wider in 
latitude. They are shorter and sometimes thinner. 
These people did not come to the church for mental di- 
version, nor for oratory. They were there for instruc- 
tion, for an educative, thorough-going discussion of 
great themes. They had no use for sermonets. With- 
out newspapers, lectures or modern entertainments, the 
sermon had no competitor, and because of the emphasis 
put upon it, it must not be weak nor little. It must not 
deal with little themes. It must be large and strong. 
The meeting-house in Norwalk never lacked hearers 
who demanded this, and its ministers were men of such 
brain power and moral earnestness that the history of 
these days in the town is honorable. Nevertheless, with 
all their virtues, I cannot say that these early ministers 
were more loyal to duty or to the spirit of true religion 
than are their successors of to-day, in the more complex 
and perhaps less appreciated Christian service of our 
time. 

Their meeting-house never knew the heat of any fire 
except that which was in the minister's theology. That 
was sufficient even when the mercury hovered about zero. 
When the era of the beautiful colonial architecture 
came in, it did not put itself greatly in evidence in Nor- 
walk. Nevertheless the furnishings of the homes when 
wealth had come were made richer. Brassware supple- 
mented the English pewter. Mahogany was the new 

139 



furniture, sideboards with curving fronts, swell-front 
bureaus, long, oval mirrors, bedsteads with arched 
canopy frames, while the tankards were put aside for 
fluted decanters and wineglasses. A new " social eti- 
quette and stately manners were affected. The table was 
graced with silver spoons, and forks had been introduced. 
Tea costing several dollars a pound and coffee and choco- 
late appealed to new tastes on special occasions. Tin- 
ware was displacing the earthenware crockery and cook- 
ing grew to be a fine art. Even now in its decadence, 
there are echoes of it that could well-nigh convert one 
to the theory that the days of glory were in the past. 
Those mercies have gone from the sight and tas'te of 
men now living. When our grandmothers went to hea- 
ven they took the secret with them. 

We find that the schools at this time had increased 
their studies. Arithmetic, through decimal fractions to 
the climax of the ''rule of three," was added, and con- 
siderably later, grammar as a study, and algebra, and 
the elements of geometry. Geography was not taught 
until nearly the end of the century. Those who were 
preparing for a liberal education sought the tuition of 
the minister. 

In the way of trade and commerce the custom of 
barter had yielded to the more complex organization of 
society. There was a freer circulation of money and 
there were stores and shops in Norwalk. Two-wheeled 
carriages, called chaises, were in town in 1750. New 
York held a direct trade with Europe, and vessels from 
our harbor knew the way to New York. Among those 
whose ambitions tended to social distinctions fashion 
was not a little bit of a god even then. Ruffles and em- 
broideries, silk gloves, white silk stockings, poplin and 
gauze fans and ribbons, with gold and silver ornaments 
were all here. This also was the era of wonderful 
stitching, from the samplers up to the marvelous illus- 
trations of what could be done with a needle. Mean- 
while — as in the later days of the pioneer period — the 
shoemaker went from house to house, the tailor like- 
wise, to cut, fit and make the clothing — the cooper to 
make and hoop barrels for the cider and the soap, and 
barrels for beef and barrels for pork. Even in this 
colonial stage individualism had enough to satisfy itself. 
Each home had its ceaseless industries. The 'pork and 
hams and sides of bacon and tongues must be preserved 
for winter use. The sheep were sheared at 'home ; the 

140 



wool carded and woven at home. The flax was made 
ready for spinning at home. The skilful woman could 
spin two threads with one hand while the foot kept the 
treadle of the flax wheel moving and a baby slept in her 
lap, and could look as pretty as a picture while doing it. 

Matters were, after this manner when the warnings 
of war were heard in Norwalk. It was ThaddeusBetts 
— a descendant of the pioneer — who made application to 
the General Assembly in behalf of the town for six can- 
non. He procured them "with a hundred round shot 
to suit them and grape shot in proportion.'' 

As the war came near to our coasts, the exposed 
location gave the people especial reason for alarm. 
What they feared came. British soldiers under General 
Tryon, and hired' Hessians under General Garth, on July 
7th burned to the ground the neighboring town of Fair- 
field. Norwalk next was the expectation, and such 
small household goods as could be concealed were hid- 
den away. Governor Trumbull ordered the continental 
troops at New London to "hasten to Norwalk with all 
possible dispatch," but before the orders were received 
Norwalk was in ashes. These house-burners landed on 
both sides of the river — at "Fitch's Point" and at "Old 
Well" — on Saturday afternoon of July loth, and with 
the light of the Lord's day, July nth, they were seen 
concentrating at "Grummon's Hill." There Tryon sat 
overlooking the town, safe with his 2,500 soldiers against 
a few continental companies, while he wrote his orders. 
At six o'clock in the morning the torches were lighted 
and eighty dwelling-houses (some accounts say 132), the 
two churches, 87 barns, 22 storehouses, 17 shops, 4 mills 
and 5 vessels were consumed, together with the crops of 
hay and wheat which had been gathered. The general, 
who never distinguished himself by any nobler or more 
dangerous service than this, then left what had been the 
town and left his record. 

The next winter, uncommonly severe, came to these 
largely houseless people without adequate provisions 
and in great privations. Poverty was the common lot. 
The ordinary necessities of life were only to be secured 
by almost prohibitory prices. Salt was $27.00 a bushel, 
molasses $20.00 a gallon. 

It was lived through, however, and there are those 
in this presence who have heard the story of it directly 
from those who could say, "all of which I saw and a part 
of which I experienced." Two years later, in October, 



141 



1781, down in Virginia, the end came. With the surren- 
der the British drums beat the air 'The world's turned 
topsy-turvy," and Lord Cornwallis thought it had. In- 
deed it had. 

While the great body of the people had been willing 
to bring about this issue, the element loyal to the British 
government was much more troublesome than current 
history shows. To some, the allegiance to England 
was a matter of Church, to others of conservatism, and 
to others of a cowardly confidence that Great Britain 
would win, and that they would be present when the 
band-wagon would come to town. These were those 
who secretly aided the British and betrayed their own 
neighbors. Norwalk had all kinds. After independence 
was secured, those who did not remove, inherited the 
"Fourth of July" with as good grace as necessity re- 
quired. Now, after a century and a quarter, the records 
of this part of our history may well be forgotten. 

With the triumph of the war, Norwalk shared in 
the new impulse which came to the State and to the 
country. The war had been a great educator. Com- 
merce took on new enterprises. Private ventures were 
bolder and more successful. The battles for freedom 
had shown to the people the inconsistency of slavery, 
and all slaves born after 1784 were declared free. At 
this time there were forty-one slaves in Norwalk. 

With the year 1800, not all the losses had been re- 
covered, but the town was flourishing in a quiet way 
with a population of 5,105 people, including Wilton and 
New Canaan yet in the bounds of Norwalk. 

We come now to the Nineteenth Century stage. 
There are persons now living in Norwalk whose years 
have compassed nearly all of the last century. We have 
heard them tell of the wonderful changes in their day. 
This past is so near to us that we may not dwell upon it. 
In 181 2 came the set-back of the embargo and of 
the blockade of our own harbor, but with the ending 
of the war in 1815, the British ships left the Sound and 
the people were free again to work out the blessings of 
peace. 

In 1824 the first steamboat — the General Lafayette 
— was making its trips from New York to Old Well, 
when one could go to New York in one day and posi- 
tively return the next day. The railroad, whose whistle 
echoed the tune "The world's turned topsy-turvy," be- 

143 



gan the change of the center of gravity in Norvvalk to 
the west end in 1848. 

We parted with New Canaan in 1801. It was 
named after the Canaan which in Bible times flowed 
with milk and honey, and doubtless because it was sup- 
posed that from its hilltops the people would be nearer 
the New Jerusalem than they could be at tide-water. 
Wilton became a separate tov/n in 1802, and Westport 
in 1835. 

Ihe year 1860 brought the event of that century in 
our nation's history. Those who had been mourning 
the decay of patriotism and were piping their pessimistic 
strains because in the material changes and great 
growths of luxury the children of to-day had become 
degenerate sons of those noble sires who had left us their 
precious legacy of freedom, were amazed to discover 
how their eyes had been holden that they should have 
seen 'only the surfaces of life. 

The elders here well remember what answer was 
made when the Governm.ent called. The record of Nor- 
walk in that life and death struggle, which did not pause 
nor hesitate until the national unity was forever secured, 
and slavery abolished forever, was worthy of the men 
and women of 165 1 and 1776. 

We are now standing before the questions of the 
twentieth century. In all this past local history the time 
could be spanned by three successive lives of eighty-three 
years each. This brings the fathers near to us, but how 
far away they are in the changes which the years have 
wrought. It has come to pass that we can no' longer 
isolate ourselves. One's home may be in Norwalk, but 
he belongs to the world and the world belongs to him. 
We are not only heirs to the people of 165 1 but we have 
the inheritances of all nations. When the century began 
which has just closed its gates upon us, John Adams 
was President of the United States with 5,000,000 of 
people, with the Mississippi River our western boundary, 
with a budget of receipts and expenses one-tenth that of 
the present city of New York. George the Third was 
king of Great Britain, and Napoleon Bonaparte the first 
Consul of the French Republic. The people of the fore- 
most nations of the earth were reading by candle light 
the very beginnings of the sciences of the chemical and 
physical properties of matter. Most of the work of the 
world was done by the muscles of men and horses, m- 
stead of by mechanical power. People traveled at the 

143 



rate of six miles an hour, where now we fret at forty 
miles an hour. Then an interview from Norwalk with 
a man at Boston would take three weeks, now we dis- 
patch it over the telephone in live minutes. The nine- 
teenth century has given us the railroad, the steamship, 
the telegraph, the photograph, photo-engraving, the sew- 
ing machine, the reaper, the mower, the tremendous 
power of machinery that works like intelligence, the de- 
velopment of manufactures, the electric light, the trolley 
car and the horseless carriage. It has given us the 
science of chemistry, the wonderful advance in scientific 
medicine, the miracles of surgery, the new domain of 
physics, the theories of light and heat and energy, the 
revelations of the spectrum analysis — the X-rays — the 
achievements of astronomy and the hypothesis of evolu- 
tion. It has given us archaeological unfoldings of 
people who lived and celebrated their anniversaries six 
thousand years ago ; the geographical, ethnological, bio- 
logical sciences with their new worlds for the coming 
generations to develop and to conquer. It has planted 
civilization in Japan and the seeds of it in China. It has 
builded universities for women that they may be 
scholars. It has brought us a new literature, a new 
library development with public libraries in every town 
not already in its grave clothes. It has been a strenuous 
century, a fruitful century in which every town and per- 
son has shared. 

We look out upon the century before us when the 
wide world is brought to our vision every morning, when 
people cross the oceans at the speed of 500 miles a day, 
as if they were ferries, when we flash our thoughts dry 
shod over the bed of the sea on the nerve of a wire, from 
continent to continent ; when one converses with an- 
other a thousand miles away as if they were face to face. 

In 1 65 1 the age was narrow and the people were 
narrow, but they were broader than their times. 
They turned their faces forward, leading their age. This 
gave them a work and they did their work. 

Ever to be remembered are the eminent Norwalk- 
born sons who in this work have brought conspicuous 
honor to their native town. Thomas Fitch, governor, 
and Thomas Fitch, Jr., patriot soldier; Captain John 
Thacher, Rev. Abraham Jarvis, the second bishop of the 
Episcopal Church in Connecticut; Prof. Moses Stuart, 
forerunner in Oriental literature in this country; Dr. 
Jonathan Knight, the eloquent professor in Yale ; Rear- 

144 



Admiral Francis Gregory, of the United States Navy; 
Nathaniel Bouton, father of the National American 
Home Missionary Society; Hon. Charles H. Sherman, 
Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and the Norwalk- 
born parents of Hon. John Sherman and General Wil- 
liam Tecumseh Sherman, men of world fame. Others 
who have gone out from us have also been founders of 
towns, so that Norwalk is also in Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, 
Missouri, Florida and California. 

As we rejoice to-day in our beautiful town of twenty 
thousand people — a suburb of the metropolis of this con- 
tinent within the dista.nce of an hour — heirs of a thou- 
sand privileges of which with all their hopes the fathers 
never dreamed, it is not for us to forget how they blazed 
the way for our smoother paths. They did not recoil 
from grappling fearlessly with the duties and the evils of 
their time. We, their children, can best honor them by 
being as true to our times as they were to theirs. 

The day has not yet come for us in the outlook from 
our higher civilization to cease to honor the fathers and 
their principles, while we, for our part, are seeking to 
work out our own problems of destiny in honest duty, 
that our day may be as wholesome and true as it is free 
and great. 

On Tuesday afternoon, September the Tenth, the 
schools of the town assembled in the Armory. Abiathar 
Blanchard, Secretary of the Board of School Visitors, 
presided. The order of exercises was as follows: 

MUSIC, S+ar Spangled Banner. 

ADDRESS, "Yesterday., To-day and To-morrow." 

Miss Mary Merriman Abbott, President of the State 
Federation of Women's Clubs. 

MUSIC, Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean. 
ADDRESS, "Citizenship." 

Rev. Romilly P. Humphries. 

MUSIC, Fair America, 
Hall Columbia. 

ADDRESS, "The Men Who Made Connecticut," 

Walter Seth Logan, Esq., President of the Sons of the 
American Revolution. 

MUSIC, America. 

145 



POEM BY DR. JOHN GAYLORD DAVENPORT, 
Of Waterbury, Conn. 



"A SWEET AND HALLOWED TIME." 

We've come to a sweet and hallowed time 

When the past broods o'er the town, 
And wakes again the scenes and men 

Of conflict and renown. 
A dreamy light is on the bay 

And its rippling waters tell 
Of clumsy craft and homespun sail 

Which once they knew so well! 
The hills stand silent as if in thought, 

In their ancient robe of green, 
And lift their heads as if to speak 

Of the things that they have seen. 
There are murmured tales, if we understood, 

In the sobbing of the rills. 
And every vale and slope and wood 

With retrospection thrills! 
"Colonial homes" exult to-day 

In their heritage of years, 
And boast superior style, while each 

At modern structures sneers! 
And up in their attics, as I suspect. 

While there's no one there to see. 
All "Grandma's treasures" are prone to share 

In a burst of old-time glee! 
The great wheel says to the linen-wheel, 

"Let's honor these passing days," 
And they whirl in a jig while the snapping reel 

Keeps time to their merry maze! 
And the warming pan with its cymbal lid. 

Applauds as they chasse, 
And the footstove rattles its ashes cold 

In a musical sort of way! 
And the bellows flutter the blackened herbs 

That hang from the garret wall. 
And the boneset leaves and the motherwort 

Into the cradle fall! 
And the ancient churn that has rested long 

Its dasher lifts once more, 

146 



While the straight-backed chairs, join arms and skip 

O'er the blackened oaken floor! 
And the shell that used to sweep the fields 

With its clear-toned call to dine, 
Says to the brass-nailed, oxhide trunk, 

"Your style's as loud as mine!" 
And the pewter platters clap their hands, 

And the old blue pitcher dreams 
Of the time gone by when its nose was whole 

And it caught the cider streams! 
And grandfather's clock that stands apart. 

With its hands before its face, 
With a desperate effort strikes the hour 

With much of its former grace! 
these are days, we may well believe, 

Of honest/ and hearty mirth. 
With all that in far-off, golden years 

Can boast exalted birth! 

And so throughout the ancient bounds. 

From Wilton's sunny hills. 
To the harbor where the restless tide 

Its chalice drains and Alls; 
From Five Mile River and Darien 

To Saugatuck's verdant shore. 
From the heights that fair New Canaan homes 

With beauty mantle o'er. 
To Weston's sturdy, rock-bound ridge, 

One prevalent taste we see. 
The favorite study of every man 

Is Ancient History! 
One title, "Looking Backward," seems 

All wisdom to enshrine, 
While not a song so moves the heart 

As simple "Auld Lang Syne!" 
The twentieth century fades from view, 

The seventeenth is ours. 
The withered stock bursts into leaf 

And yields us sweetest flowers! 
O not in vain the D. A. R., 

(With never a final N.) 
And not in vain the S. A. R., 

Those brave, heroic men, 
"Founders and Patriots," "Foreign Wars," 

"Colonial Wars," and "Dames," 
And all the rest that trace their line 

147 



ThrougJi great historic names. 
Have waited for the charming time 

That bids the past arise, 
And all its characters and scenes 

Salute our wondering eyes! 
Perchance indeed it was their spell 

That waked the long ago. 
That we the fullness of its grace 

And worthiness might know; 
Perchance it was their trumpet call 

That bade the dead revive 
And walk and worship in our view, 

And toil and love and strive! 
With eager hearts we greet the past 

And yield it reverence due, 
And bid it make our lives sublime. 

Unselfish, broad and true! 
We've garlands for the pioneers 

Who wrestled here with fate, 
And in the midst of perils laid 

The bases of the State! 
We've garlands for the patriot band 

Who the invader met. 
And who through fire and blood their face 

Toward independence set! 
We've garlands for the mothers brave 

Who shared the cruel strain. 
And deemed it highest joy their sons 

For worthiest life to train! 

fathers, mothers, royal race. 

Across the gulf of years 
We bless you for your noble work 

Unstayed by pain or fears! 
Live, live before us while these days 

Are gliding sweetly by. 
Reveal the grandeur of the soul 

Whose influence cannot die! 

One sunny day, with hook and line, 
I sought the wave-washed strand, 

Where as a boy I eager bore 
The bivalves to the land I 

1 sat me down upon a point 

That jutted to the sea. 
And waited for the fish so kind 
As to be game for me! 

148 



The skies were bright, the waters clear. 

Their ripples soothed my soul, 
I looked across the shining waves 

And marked their rhytlimic roll! 
I thought upon these festal days, 

Then not so far away. 
And wondered, could the dead return, 
What they would think and say! 
When of a sudden I perceived 

That I was not alone, 
For, near at hand, there silent sat 

A man to me unknown. 
His dress in part seemed like the garb 

Of those who ride the wheel. 
And yet a strangeness marked his style 

Whose force I could but feel! 
His shortened coat of silken gray 

Was slashed on either side. 
While o'er the sleeves, like roof of porch, 

Hung a projection wide! 
His collar was as white and broad 

As that of modern dude. 
And yet so laid about his neck 

As nowise to intrude. 
A cord and tassel held it fast 

And neatly fell below; 
His shoes with buckles firmly bound 

Did each a jewel show. 
His hat ascended toward a peak. 

His face seemed sad and grim; 
I marveled at his looks the more. 

The more I gazed at him. 
At length I said, in courteous tone, 

"I harvest from the sea; 
I seek a little of its wealth"; 

He said, "So mote it be! 
"From this same point," said he, "I've fished, 

And gathered many a score; 
But," with a sigh he added soon, 

"I'll do it nevermore!" 
"Why not?" I asked, "bring on your line. 

The sea is all alive; 
These swarms that throng the shining depths 

We surely ought to hive! 
Calf Pasture is a goodly place 
For this delightful sport; 

149 



Come, bring your tackle, and you'll bear 

A cargo into port!" 
"Two hundred years ago, and more," 

Said he, "with ample luck 
My hook into the briny deep 

With diligence I struck! 
Good Izaak Walton, then alive, 

Taught me the noble art. 
And sentiments of love and truth 

He also did impart. 
I wonder if his book is read 

In this degenerate age, 
The marks of genius it reveals 

On every gleaming page." 
I started as he spoke of years 

And centuries long past, 
Forgetful of the tugging line 

That held a flounder fast. 
"You fished," said I, "two hundred years. 

And more than that ago? 
Well, who you are, what doing here, 

I'd surely like to know!" 
A dreamy look had filled his eyes. 

He seemed afar to gaze. 
The while 1 waited tremulous, 

With wonder and amaze! 
"Yon thriving town," he slowly said, 

"Whose distant towers you see, 
Proud of its beauty and its wealth. 

Owes much to mine and me! 
We came when here the wilderness 

Stood thick and dark around, 
And savage beasts and savage men 

Held the uncultured ground. 
The river and its feeding brooks 

Ran murmuring to the sea, 
And waves here sang, but not a soul 

Echoed their melody! 
We felled the trees, we broke the soil. 

Our humble cabins reared, 
And thrusting back the crowding wood 

Wc farm and garden cleared. 
It was an age of toil severe; 

At times our courage failed; 
Yet we pressed on, for well we knew 

'Twas death to him who quailed! 

150 



And so at length the little town 

Here by the pulsing bay. 
Rose into comeliness and strength, 

A settlement to stay! 
It spread beyond, upon the hills. 

Unfolded east and west. 
And vale and slope and pasture land 

And forest all possessed! 
We early built the house of God 

And made it strong and fair, 
And consecrated it to Him 

With earnest psalm and prayer. 
And Parson Hanford wove his spell 

And chained our hearts with ease, 
The while he showed a sovereign God 

And talked of the decrees! 
We never felt the summer's heat. 

Nor feared the winter's cold. 
The air of heaven the sacred place 

Seemed ever to enfold. 
And In our little homes we knew 

The sweetest joys of love; 
For blessings on the hearthstone fell 

Directly from above!" 

The speaker paused; his bosom heaved 

By deep emotion stirred, 
And then while throbbed the restless sea, 

This moving tale I heard: 
"Across the road from father's house 

The Matthew Marvins dwelt, 
And Sarah was the girl for whom 

A deep regard I felt! 
And as the years rolled on and we 

Together talked and played. 
And often through the open fields 

And by the water strayed, 
That deep regard' of mine increased. 

Until I came to feel 
That if I had her faithful love 

'Tv/culd all my sorrows heal! 
I thought that with her company. 

My life; though filled with care. 
Would blossom out in loveliness 

And fruit immortal bear. i^ 

For Sarah was as sweet a girl 

151 



As ever breathed the air, 
As graceful as a forest rose, 

And just as bright and fair! 
Her cheeks were piuk as dawning day; 

Her hair was finest gold; 
Her eyes were blue as ocean waves; 

Her charm could ne'er be told! 

One springtime, 'twas in '79, 

If I remember right. 
And just a day like this, when earth 

• And sky were wondrous bright; 
I in the furrow left the plough, 

I had no heart for work. 
Though none had ever dared to call 

Young Thomas Betts a 'shirk! ' 
Across the path I went in haste, 

And Sarah asked, if she 
That afternoon would take a walk 

Away down by the sea. 
I told her that the samphire then 

Had reached a goody size 
And that with quantities thereof 

Her mother we'd surprise! 
She was agreed and so we came, 

And reached this very spot. 
And of the sea-washed succulent 

Gathered a generous lot. 
And then we sat upon the point 

Where we are met to-day. 
And heard the waters lap, and saw 

Them sparkle far away. 
And, after hitching all about. 

And struggling with A cough. 
And sitting close to her and then 

Removing further off, 
At length I said, 'You, Sarah, know,' 

And then m.y courage fell, 
'You, Sarah, know — how pleasant 'tis 

To see the waters swell! 
No, no, it isn't that I'd say. 

But that you know full well 
How pleasant 'tis down by the sea 

A little time to dwell! 
For shame!' I cried, 'You, Sarah, know. 

What I can never tell! 

152 



But though I have a stumbling tongue, 

My heart it loves you well! 
And I have long desired to learn 

If you will be my wife, 
And bring a heavenly charm and joy 

Into my lonely life!' 
She sat in all her radiant youth 

Where you are sitting now. 
With dreamy eyes and glowing cheek 

And calm and thoughtful brow. 
And she replied. 'You're dear to me, 

And that you well must know. 
For the sweet secret of my heart 

I'm sure I could but show. 
But is it best that with our love 

Life's fleeting years we fill? 
Has it for us been thus decreed ? 

Is it the Father's will? 
We must, in fear, our souls prepare 

For pleasures that endure, 
And make our calling, 'mid earth's scenes, 

And our election sure. 
I've asked that God would guide aright 

In these affairs of mine. 
And yet, if He have heard my prayer. 

He gives no certain sign. 

that while here in joy we meet 

Beside the laughing sea. 
Some token might be given us 

If you are meant for me! 
Look, Thomas, see yon rock that lifts 

Its head above the wave, 

1 wonder if its rugged height 

The rising tide will lave! 
Let's pray that if it be His will 

That you be wholly mine. 
That rock, ere night, shall hide itself 

Beneath the crystal brine!' 
And so we asked that He whose hand 

Directs the shifting tide, 
Might thus declare, if 'twas His will 

That she should be my bride. 
And then we watched! O slowly rose 

The waters of the bay! 
Never so slowly as upon 

Tliat far-off, fateful day! 

163 



We sat in silence, knowing well 

How much the signal meant, 
And all my soul in pleading prayer 

To heaven for mercy went! 
Slowly, so slowly, rose the tide; 

Yet steadily it came. 
While over it the western skies 

Burst into gorgeous flame! 
At last, the waters swept the rock! 

They settled o'er its head! 
They hid it 'neath their blessed waves! 

'It is His will,' she said. 
And while the wavelets leaped and laughed 

And splendor filled the skies, 
A look of heavenly rapture stole 

Into her soulful eyes. 
'Let's praise our gracious God,' I said; 

Our voices blent in one 
As grateful psalm we sang, and gazed 

Upon the setting sun. 
'The sea is His; He made its waves; 

He lifts them at His will; 
And sea and land and storm and sun 

His purposes fulfill!' 
At length we took the samphire home. 

Our errand a success; 
But no one knew what joy had come 

Our inmost souls to bless! 
rn violet tints the twilight glowed. 

The west was shining still, 
. And from the forest swept the note 

If happy whippoorwill! 
'Tis heaven begun!' my Sarah cried; 

'My soul exultant sings; 
Yon sunset clouds seem seraphs bright 

Afloat on snowy wings!" 

Just at this point my flounder leaped 

Upon a neighboring stone; 
My friend's attention I invoked, 

And found myself alone! 
Soothed by the waters and the sun 

I may have slept and dreamed. 
Although my ancient visitor 

Most realistic seemed! 
And I reflected that the men 

164 



And women we recall, 
The pioneers, the patriots. 

Were human one and all! 
The heart's deep passions all they knew, 

Its joys and hopes and fears, 
Its gleams of sunshine and the clouds 

That yielded bitter tears! 
And as I mused they nearer seemed, 

And o'er the waste of time 
I reached my hand in tenderness 

To all those souls sublime! 
Their lot was hard, their life was stern, 

Sore griefs they must have known. 
And yet their inmost soul was keyed 

In rhythm with our own. 
O fathers, mothers, brothers, friends. 

Amid the hurrying years. 
We stand with you, one flesh, one soul, 

One life of smiles and tears! 
The centuries may roll away 

As stars their courses run. 
Earth's rock-ribbed coasts may change, and yet 
Humanity is one! 

And still, how very much he lacked, 

The Norwalk pioneer 
Who set the pillars of the State 

On firm foundations here. 
If we but place ourselves in thought 

Where he so nobly stood, 
We feel how barren was his life 

In its pursuit of good. 
To us who dwell amid the blaze 

Of time's exalted noon, 
It seems that he, the pioneer. 

Was born by far too soon! 

The banner dyed in Orient flame, 

Whose stars spell out great Freedom's name. 

Whose stripes are bright with patriot's fame; 

This had not lifted into view 

Its heaven-born red and white and blue. 

While he earth's light and shadow knew. 

The great Republic whose domain 
Eastern and western oceans drain 
A giant lake and gulf retain; 

156 



Whose might a continent has spanned 
And overleaped its native land 
Far tropic islands to command; 

Of this, when wildest fancy gleamed, 
And all the future brightness beamed, 
He never for a moment dreamed! 

Of Washington, the nation's boast, 
Of martyred Lincoln, loved the most. 
Of Grant, who led the dauntless host; 

Of Clay and Webster and their peers 
Who graced our great historic years 
And waked the nation's joys or fears. 

Of our McKinley, wise and grand — 
Worthy with noblest chiefs to stand. 
The pride and glory of the land; 

He never heard; no prophet came 

To tell the pioneer their name 

And paint for him their deathless fame! 

The columns marching to the fray 

On Bunker Hill's heroic day, 

Or when old Norwalk burned away; 

The forces that on Erie fell 

While white-capped billows sobbed their knell 

And winds alone their grave could tell; 

The millions that at Lincoln's call 
Bade blighting slavery's strongholds fall 
And liberty conferred on all; 

The hosts that stormed up San Juan hill 

The nation's edict to fulfill 

And break the heartless tyrant's will; 

Of these no glimpse the pioneer 
Was privileged to gain; no cheer 
Of victory's rapture smote his ear! 

These men of war, these heroes brave. 
Who freely all they cherished gave 
Humanity's best hope to save; 

156 



Whose blood has stained our banner red, 
Whose valor crowning every head 
Has deathless glory o'er it shed; 

These whom we honor came in view 
A century after he withdrew 
To join the standard in the blue! 

Red-handed Anarchy, whose blow, 
Lays loved and honored ruler low, 
And fills the land with bitterest woe, 

That horror such as this could be, 
The settler did not live to see. 
Nor dreamed of such iniquity! 

Much that has now' familiar grown 
To him, alas! was all unknown, 
The fruit of seeds as yet unsown! 

With Ptolemy he viewed the world 
As central, while around it whirled 
The orbs Omnipotence had hurled! 

He thought the heavens in shining maze, 
Th» earth with all its wondrous ways. 
Were builded in six summer days! 

The theory that all had sprung 
From germs original outflung 
The awful gulfs of space among; 

That these while cycles slowly rolled 
Strange forms of beauty did unfold 
Till nature's thrilling tale was told; 

This truth as yet was all untaught. 
Nor yet by sage nor prophet thought, 
Nor into human fancy wrought! 

The lightning blazed along the skies. 
But was not brought in mild disguise 
To cheer the early settler's eyes! 

No telegraphic message came 
On pinions of electric flame 
Bringing its tale of grief or fame! 

157 



The pioneer had never known 
The "central" girl's incisive tone. 
Nor chatted with the telephone! 

A football head ot liair to him 
Suggested neither freak nor whim. 
He never caught the vision grim! 

A game of Harvard vs. Yale, 
If crimson or if blue prevail, 
Was all to him an unknown tale! 

The Indian warwhoop through the dell 
Had features that he knew full well, 
But not a modern college yell! 

The charms of golf he never knew. 
Nor clamored for the "green" or "blue," 
When crOQuet contest was in view! 

As "club-man" he was never known; 
For all the club that time had shown 
Was made of hickory tipped with stone! 

No "woman suffrage" man was he. 
For woman had not thought to flee 
From man's dire inhumanity! 

Not yet was she the woman "new," 
Emancipated, brought to view. 
Eager for all that's wise and true! 

Not yet had she curtailed her frock, 
Nor bound her neck in stiffest stock. 
Nor given a tea at five o'clock! 

He only knew her as "at home," 

The charm that drew, where'er he'd roam, 

From forest glen or ocean foam! 

He never knew of Cresceus fleet. 
Nor heard of Maud S.'s magic feet. 
Nor yacht that could Sir Lipton beat! 

He never wrestled with a tire. 
Nor took la "header" in the mire, 
Nor for a "chainless" did inquire. 

158 



He bravely trudged through "Pudding Lane, 
And sought "Old Well" mid sun or rain — 
Nor ever waited for a train! 

An automobile would have seemed 
The dragon of which Bunyan dreamed, 
As through the rude highways it steamed! 

An X-ray shining through the heart. 

Revealing every hidden part. 

He would have cursed as "Satan's art." 

He ate and drank and breathed at will. 
But not a microbe found to chill 
His courage or his pulses still! 

Mosquitoes sang the same sweet lay 
That one may hear them sing to-day, 
But had no fever to convey! 

And 90 they raised their ancient tune, 
And sipped the blood of March or June, 
Nor asked if one were an "immune!" 

No daily paper brought its word 
Of great debate in London heard 
Some hours before the thing occurred! 

With hatchet keen he felled the oaks, 
But Washington's historic strokes 
And Carrie Nation's temperance hoax, 

To him were glories yet unborn. 
Nor wakened envy, praise or scorn 
For hero crowned nor dame forlorn! 

It was his rule to summer here. 
Rather than seek for Newport's cheer 
Or bathe at Narragansett Pier. 

He never heard the rhythmic fire 
Of odes and idyls that inspire 
From Tennyson's immortal lyre! 

He never trod the heathered height 

With Burns, and caught his fancies bright. 

Nor shared the "Cotter's Saturday Night." 

159 



And Walter Scott ne'er charmed him so 
With "Kenilworth" or "Ivanhoe," 
That he forgot to plough and sow! 

Mark Twain ne'er moved him to a laugh, 
Nor Dudley Warner bade him quaff 
His humor-pathos, half and half! 

And David Harum, wise and good. 
Ne'er bade him sell as best he could 
A horse that "without hitching" stood! 

He never kenned the brilliant sparks 

Of "Mr. Dooley's" sage remarks. 

Nor viewed Sir Richard Carvel's "larks." 

America's great authors all 
Appeared upon this radiant ball 
Too late to answer to his call. 

He never knew the struggle great 
As Presidential candidate 
Ascends to his imperial state! 

He never visited by stealth, 

Nor shook the hand nor drank the health 

Of Governor of the Commonwealth. 

In fact, as we his life recall. 

So destitute as to appall. 

We wonder that he lived at all! 

And yet, the vital things he saw. 
The majesty of moral law, 
Ordained of God without a flaw; 

The law of man, that subtle force 
That binds the cultured and the coarse. 
As sacred as its heavenly source; 

These he essential did esteem, 
And sought to realize his dream 
Of law enthroned and made supreme! 

The depths of human love he knew. 
The passion pure and sweet and true 
That yields its object homage due. 

160 



As lover he was all aflame. 

As husband faithful to his dame, 

As father, worthy of the name! 

And in his soul a faith sublime 
Reached far beyond the hounds of time 
And dared the throne eternal climb! 

"The man with the hoe," but not a "clod, 
His face he lifted from the BOd, 
A lover and a child of God ! 

He worshiped as he trod the strand 
Or turned the furrows of his land 
Or sowed the seed with liberal hand! 

The daisies still with dewdrops wet. 
The lilies 'mid the grasses set. 
The roses in the wildwood met; 

The iris by the river's brink. 
The flute-notes of the bobolink, 
The shaded brooklet's pensive clink; 

The daybreak rose, the sunset gold, 
The spheres along the midnight rolled. 
Of an Almighty Sovereign told! 

Of Him he ever stood in awe; 
His radiant righteousness he saw 
And feared the thunders of His law! 

And far above the earthly sod, 

Yet brightening all the paths he trod. 

Behold! the kingdom of his God! 

Upon these shores he saw it rise 
Decked with the glory of the skies, 
And voiced with notes of Paradise! 

Perhaps it was presumptuous sin 
To think that he might enter in 
To that which the elect should win! 

And yet he prayed and struggled on, 
The flesh denied, and hoped anon 
That he celestial robes might don! 

lei 



Meanwhile the humble pioneer 
The ftrm foundations settled here 
On which we've rested many a year! 

Ever to his convictions true, 
He builded better than he knew 
The while the busy decades flew. 

And then he passed, his labor done, 
And at the setting of the sun 
Found Grod's eternal day begun! 

Two centuries and more have cast 

Their shadow on the dial. 
Since here the settler lived his life 

Of hardship and of trial. 
Still rise the hills that he beheld. 

The river seeks the sea. 
The tides still kiss the verdant isles, 

The skies bend lovingly! 
And yet, how greatly changed is all! 

What eager life is here! 
What beauty crowns the sunny heights 

And fills the vales with cheer! 
Another world has dawned and left 

Its impress on the scene; 
A fascinating picture now 

Is imaged on the screen! 
The heritage of all the years 

On us confers its charm. 
While sovereignty august avails 

To shield from every harm! 
We glory in our high estate, 

We boast our wealth and power; 
We magnify this wondrous age 

That heaps us with its dower! 

We wonder what the future holds 

As yet to us unknown; 
What growth in knowledge and in might 

Shall here at length be shown; 
We scan the horizons o'er and o'er 

Their promises to learn. 
Some glimpses of what lies beneath 

Most eager to discern! 
Shall ancient Norwalk here enthroned 



Beside the sunlit sea 
Grow great and strong and rich and wise 

In true prosperity? 
Shall all the lands the founders trod 

Abundant harvests yield, 
The grasses and the wheat and corn 

Awave in every field? 
Shall every brooklet turn the wheel 

That labor's anthem sings, 
And all the people find the toil. 

That peace and plenty brings? 
Shall pleasant homes on every hand 

Be filled with joy and light. 
And all their inmates seek to know 

And love and do the right? 
Shall church-bells call to praise and prayer 

And school-rooms ope the door, 
And youth be trained for noblest life 

Now and forevermore? 
And from these scenes shall men be called 

To serve in highest place. 
To aid the State, to bless the land, 

To elevate the race? 
Shall it be thus, our hearts inquire. 

And lift the earnest plea, ' 
That all that choicest is and best. 

May come, fair town, to thee! 

Peace be upon thy beauteous heights. 

And peace like sunshine trail 
O'er every slope and pasture land, 

Through every flower-gemmed vale! 
The peace that every good enfolds, 

Unfathomed, sweet, divine. 
This peace, dear ancestral town, 

Forevermore be thine! 

Before the close of the meeting the Hon. Orville H. 
Piatt, United States Senator from Connecticut, was lis- 
tened to with the closest interest and attention. He 
said he was proud to speak before an audience of Nor- 
walk people, and thotigh not a Norwalk boy himself, 
having been born in Redding, Conn., he felt that he was 
a Connecticut man, and that any Connecticut man ought 
to have, as he had, an interest and a personal one, in such 
an anniversary as Norwalk is now celebrating. He said, 

163 



also, that there were two forces which our ancestors built 
upon. These were church and state, and that both were 
founded on a rock is proven by the fact that, to-day, 
though the church and state are separate, both are work- 
ing harmoniously. Mr. Piatt referred to our wounded 
president and said that all the country was united in sym- 
pathy for his condition. Out of this misfortune the wrath 
of man would raise up a law which should deal with an- 
archists as they deserve to be dealt with. 




164 



THE HOMEGATHERING 




N the evening at the Home Gathering 
at the Armory, last night, Hon. John 
H. Light presided. Seated on the 
platform were the speakers of the even- 
ing, Rev. Paul Moore Strayer, Rev. 
George Drew Egbert, Rev. Charles M. 
Belden of Wilton; Right Rev. Bishop 
Tierney, Hon. Howard H. Knapp, 
Rev. William J. Slocum, and others. After Chairman 
Light's introductory remarks, he read the following let- 
ters of regret : 

Memphis, Tenn., September 4th, 1901. 
Goold S. Hoyt, Secretary, etc., Norwalk, Conn. 

Dear Sir: — I have your invitation to be present at 
the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniver- 
sary of the founding of Norwalk, and regret more than 
1 can express my inability to be present on that occa- 
sion. 

Through all the vicissitudes of my more than 
seventy years, through all its sorrows and its joys, its 
clouds and sunshine, aye, even through the din and 
smoke of carnage of many a battle field, the memories 
of my boyhood days in old Norwalk with the voices and 
the faces of that long ago come to me now as clear and 
bright as the drops of dew on the meadow grass in that 
glad spring-time of my life. 

I remember the old house where I was born, with 
its dormer windows and white front porch, where now 
stands the Congregational Church. Opposite was the 
old meeting house on the Green, where old Bailey rang 
the bell, the rope coming down into the entry by the 
great stove, the Bailey that used to make big eyes at the 
youngsters and frighten us almost to death. 

Dr. Hall was the pastor, and such was my fear of 
his awful presence, in those days, that I would jump over 
the fence whenever I saw him coming along, but I got 
over that when he taught me Sallust, and took us in his 
boat down the harbor to dig clams and catch fish. 

And the old school house in the center of the Green, 
the district school below, and Aunt Susan Bett's school 
upstairs, where I learned ray a, b, c's in the stars until 
9 o'clock came, the time for bed. And then Saturday 

165 



afternoon, the heaven of the school boy in those days, 
the Jackson dinners in the woods in summer, the swim- 
ming in the creek and eating green apples on the shore, 
the coasting in winter on Jarvis's, Barnum's, Barkmill's, 
Schoolhouse and Mill River. 

And training day, with Captain Clark's artillery 
company on the Green, with the old six-pounder, the 
march, with Beers playing the snare drum, who used to 
fall out of the line of march and rest by the roadside, 
overcome by the spirit of 76, of which he imbibed too 
freely at Captain Pennoyer's old stand by the bridge. 

And then there was the singing school, with Doctor 
Hastings and the Sunday school, the Fourth of July, 
with the band and the solitary lemon in the lemonade. 

How I would like to tell of the donation parties at 
Dr. Hall's, the fun of it, the doughnuts and the cakes, 
the biscuits, the girls, the plays, and the solemn roundup 
with a sermon at the close, which sent us all home to 
dream of the Judgment Day. 

And that assembly on the village green, for the first 
emigration to the West, to found Norwalk, Ohio. I can 
see those white-covered wagons, as they disappeared 
down Barkmill Hill ; can hear the Doxology, the part- 
ings, as if forever. 

I must not forget the choir in the old meeting house, 
with the angelic face of Aunt Juliette, nor W. K. Lewis, 
with that big bass viol. Can you see them now, and Ed 
Bissell leading? 

Then came the South Norwalk Academy, with 
Storr's Hall and Professor Coffin, with Helen Sammis, 
E. M. Seymour, Mary Lib. Stuart, Belle Beard, among 
the girls, always not excepting Mary Jane. How many 
of them are living now? I hope one of the youngsters 
is here to-day who will remember when asked his name 
always responded "George Buckingham St. John Full 
of Mischief." And there was Dr. Hill with his violin, 
teaching the boys and girls to sing ; John Burrall, who 
always had some confidence to impart in a whisper, 
which you could hear half a mile, and Ed Stuart^ with 
his red hair, who tried to manage the boys in the 
boys in the academy, with the usual result. And then 
came Pudding School Lane, when my career in Norwalk 
ended. But I could talk to you for hours on the charac- 
ters and experiences of those days, as garrulous as the 
old veteran by the fireside, who "shouldered his crutch, 
and showed how fields were won." 

166 



Dear is the memory of early days 

That steals the trembling tear of speechless praise." 

Gone, all gone, the friends of my youth. Their 
names carved on the stones, but the sweet, the manly 
face, the tender voices are with me yet. In the coming 
years I hope the people of Norwalk will have a "Home 
Coming Week,"' such as are in vogue in Maine, New 
Hampshire and Vermont, so that I can meet you all once 
more. In the language of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, 
every one." 

"With kindest remembrances to all who have not for- 
gotten me, and with high esteem for yourself, I am faith- 
fully yours, W. T. CLARK. 

In Camp, September 6th, 1901. Vassar College, Pough- 

keepsie, N. Y., President's Office. 

My Dear Dr. Beard: — I am very sorry that my en- 
gagements make it inconvenient for me to be at the Nor- 
walk celebration. I am interested in every detail of it. 
South Norw^alk was my first home after leaving my 
father's house My first church was there. Three of 
my children were bom there, and for nine years I was 
entirely identified with the interests of the town. One 
can never lose the influences of those early years and 
their associations, and they come back to one with an 
interest seldom gained by later days. 

I will not burden you with the memories that throng 
in my mind as I write, of leading citizens of a score of 
years ago, of schools, of churches, of private and social 
and public interests — but I beg that you wall express to 
our fellow-citizens my regret that I cannot be with them, 
and my hopes for the substantial and increasing pros- 
perity of our old town. Believe me, faithfully yours, 

JAMES M. TAYLOR. 






167 



UP TOWN AND DOWN TOWN 






HE Rev. Paul Moore Strayer, of the 
South N o r w a 1 k Congregational 
Church, was next introduced. He 
spoke as follows: 

The subject is my own choosing. 
The committee has not led me as a 
sacrifice to a threadbare topic. But a 
note that has doubtless been often 
sounded before needs sounding again. In the town of 
Norwalk we have two small cities with separate municip- 
al governments. I do not propose in ten minutes to ad- 
vocate the combination of the two into one first class 
city, though this does not appear so impracticable as is 
imagined. Their geographical separation is now of the 
past. Electricity has removed this issue. Geographi- 
cally the cities are one. Yet I speak not for union but 
unity, which means harmony, concord, sympathy. 

The new comer is miade to understand at once that 
there is a wide gulf between Norwalk and South Nor- 
walk ; that the two little cities are far apart in interests, 
and that they cannot live together in unity because each 
would have to sacrifice so much that is individual and 
characteristic. "Uptown" and "downtown" are such dis- 
tinct communities, are so unHke, have so little in com- 
mon, that they never could agree and should not be ex- 
pected to agree. On my arrival I heard about uptown 
and downtown until my wits were turned upside down. 
At first I was surprised that I could go from South Nor- 
walk to Norwalk by trolley, and return the same day — 
the two places appeared to my imagination so remote. 
Later I was told by several persons how honored I ought 
to feel because they had come from uptown to hear me 
preach. Some avouM explain to me what Norwalk had 
been, and others what South Norwalk had done. Up- 
towners would modestly hint at the superior social ad- 
A^antages in which they live, and downtowners would 
proudly tell how the daughter has outgrown the moth- 
er. All this was amusing until I learned that in town 
meetings Norwalk would regularly vote against South 
Norwalk, and when one section wanted a public im- 
provement the other would mass its voters against it. 
The foolish distinctions were not worth a second thought, 
but organized antagonism was more serious. 

168 



Then 1 looked for the widely divergent interests of 
the two little cities which gave rise to these conditions, 
but looked in vain. A rifleman on the Norwalk Hotel 
could break the clock-dial of Hotel Clififord. A good 
walker could walk from one postoffice to the other in 
twenty minutes. A stranger cannot tell when he passes 
from South Norwalk into Norwalk and, after eight 
months' residence I do not know the boundary lines be- 
tween Norwalk and East Norwalk. The people in the 
two cities look alike, dress alike, speak the same lan- 
guage, eat the same kind of food, have the same customs. 
The crowds from the factories divide and as many go 
north as go south. There are Norwalk clerks in South 
Norwalk stores and South Norwalk salesmen in the 
stores of Norwalk. The churches of one city have many 
members in the other. The physicians draw their clien- 
tage from both cities alike. The dead are buried in the 
same cemeteries. Instead of diversity of interests I found 
similarity and interdependence. 

Indeed what caused the disagreement between the 
two cities is not that they have so little in common, but 
so much in common selfishness. There is no reason for 
the lack of unity and sympathy between them, except the 
littleness of human nature. The only things that divide 
them are petty jealousy and narrow sectionalism, at spirit 
which cannot be justified by present conditions. If they 
were western cities whose very existence depended upon 
the coming of a new railroad, we could understand it, 
but as things are it is unwarranted. If it were a spirit of 
rivalry and competition it would not be so bad, for good- 
natured competition is healthful. But it is a spirit of 
jealousy and envy which would disappear if the two cities 
were ten times as large. Only littleness is envious. 
Only the weak are jealous. Situated so close together, 
with such similarity of interests and common needs, such 
jealousy and suspicion are puerile. 

This "ancient plantation," as our historian calls it, 
has not fully outgrown its childishness. The cities of 
Norwalk and vSouth Norwalk have been like "children 
that sit in the market-place, and call one to another; 
who say, 'We piped unto you, and ye did not dance ; we 
wailed, and ye did not weep.' " If one wanted to play 
wedding the other would rather play funeral. One asks 
for a bridge; the other says "No bridge if I can help it." 
One says "Give me water;" the other agrees and then 
changes its mind. One wants a highway widened; the 

169 



other objects. One says, "Come over into my yard and 
play;" the other flings back, "I don't want to play in 
your yard." And so they have been pulling and pouting 
at one another like naughty little girls who try who can 
make the ugliest faces. 

But 250-years-old childishness is unbearable, and 
this anniversary will mark the beginning of new things. 
Now at last Norwalk has piped and all her daughters 
have danced. Now at last the whole town has clasped 
hands in one splendid exhibition of town patriotism. The 
heartiness with which all sections have entered into this 
celebration and the enthusiasm with which it has been 
carried forward is an indication that we have misjudged 
our own feelings toward one another, and a pledge that 
we shall forever put away childish things. We shall not 
"play funeral" but will make this a real funeral with sec- 
tional jealousy as the corpse. Last evening at sunset all 
the church bells of the town announced the burial and 
every citizen of Norwalk rejoiced. This anniversary has 
developed a spirit of co-operation that has surprised 
many and that needed only some such event to ;call it 
out. The women's clubs to which no little praise is due, 
have done much to bring about unity in the town and 
we are confident that this celebration has completed the 
work. The petty jealousies which have divided the town, 
the sectional feeling which has shown itself in town meet- 
ings, must and I believe will, be laid aside. From this 
time forward let us have harmony, fraternity and recip- 
rocity in our town." 

Especially must the two cities of No^rwalk and South 
Norwalk work side by side for their mutual advantage. 
Otherwise they will both be left behind in the race by 
other cities in the state with not nearly the natural facili- 
ties we possess. The same co-operation that has made 
this celebration a success will make the town succeed. If 
Norwalk get a new library. South Norwalk will rejoice. 
If South Norwalk gets a new hotel, Norwalk should re- 
joice. If a new factory comes to any part of the town, 
it should be a cause of rejoicing to the whole town, for its 
pay-roll will include citizens of all The Norwalks, of 
Rowayton and Winnipauk. Whatever draws people to 
one section of the town will bring them to every section, 
for with the bicycle and the trolley it is the question of 
rent and personal preference rather than distance which 
decides where people shall make their homes. And if 
public money is to be expended, bare honesty requires 

170 



tliat each section have its rightful share. "Live and let 
live" is a good maxim to run a town by. 

What I plead for is not an organic union between 
the two cities, which would require an act of legislature, 
but unity which requires only manliness and good will. 
From this time forward, the man who appeals to section- 
al jealousy in the town meetings, is digging up a corpse 
and should be cried down by all honest and fair-minded 
men. If South Norwalk is the daughter of Norwalk, 
the daughter must be loyal to her mother and the mother 
must act toward her daughter as a mother should. 

Rev. George Drew Egbert, of the First Congrega- 
tional Church, said he was embarrassed for two reasons. 
P'irst, he was a pilgrim and a stranger in the land — he 
came from New Jersey ; second, his wife, seeing the beau- 
tiful badges of the D A. R., wanted to be a D. A. R. her- 
self, looked up her pedigree — and found all her ancestors 
Tories. 

The New England parson then and now. Ministers 
are not called on to-day for fighting, as they were in olden 
times, but called for bravery. The New England parson 
of to-day stands for lawfulness. 

The ancient parsons had dignity, but it is easy to be 
dignified. Imagine in one of those stocks Jonathan Ed- 
wards laying down his pen to take part in a Yale-Har- 
vard football game. Referring to his Catholic brethren, 
''every Protestant rejoices in the memory of the splendid 
philanthropy of Father Slocum, whose memory is still 
green in the hearts of Norwalk people." 

Mr. Light introduced, in appropriate words, the 
Rev. Charles M. Belden, of Wilton. 

Mr. Belden is descended from one of the old Belden 
families, who settled Norwalk. 

He gave a pleasing description of Wilton, whose In- 
dian name means Pleasant Valley. Wilton is the eldest 
daughter of Norwalk, having been separated from the 
latter in 1725. 

Among the signers were the names Abbott, Keeler, 
St. John, Betts, Trowbridge, Olmstead, Gregory, Keel- 
er, etc. Wilton is connected with Norwalk by com- 
munity of interests. During the sufferings of Norwalk, 
Wilton was a sufferer, and it also was loyal to the cause of 
the Revolutionists. Wilton is a town which has kept up 
a high standard of culture and literary attainment. Moses 
Stewart, of Wilton, was one of the finest Hebrew scholars 
in the county, and the speaker mentioned others who had 

171 



distinguished themselves in letters and in the professions. 
In closing, Mr. Belden prophesied a time when Wilton 
and Norwalk should be consolidated. 

Mr. Light introduced the Right Rev. Michael Tier- 
ney, bishop of Hartford. 

Bishop Tierney expressed his thanks to the commit- 
tee for the honor done him in putting him on the pro- 
gramme after so long non-residence in Norwalk. He 
considered -Norwalk his home. In his day it consisted 
of two little villages, one called the ''Bridge" the other 
"Old Well." Now there were two cities. 

The bishop expressed himself in favor of consolida- 
tion. He thought it would decrease expenses, and be 
better for the whole town. He then spoke on the growth 
of the Catholic Church in Norwalk. 

The year 1828 witnessed the arrival of the first Irish 
Catholic family in Norwalk. In 1838 a priest, Rev. Fath- 
er McDermott, of New Haven, came here to officiate. 
In 1848, the people of Norwalk sent a committee to 
Bishop Tyler asking for a resident pastor. In 185 1 the 
church was dedicated. After several priests came one 
whom you well know, the Rev. W J. Slocum, and now 
Father Furlong, who has purchased the building directly 
in front of St. Mary's Church as a place for the young 
men of his parish to be amused and instructed, and has 
also improved the school property. 

After a selection by Mertz's Band, Mr. Light intro- 
duced Hon. Edward H. Knapp, of Bridgeport, whom 
he eulogized as a lawyer of renown. Mr. Knapp kept 
his audience laughing. He said that Bridgeport had 
no age to speak of, being only 100 years old. "It is a 
pleasure sometimes," he said, "to come to a place where 
the people can say, see, we are 250 years old, and here 
vvc are just as we always were." Norwalk people appre- 
ciated this hit at themselves, and applauded and laughed 
accordingly. 

Mr. Knapp paid a high tribute to the Rev. Homer 
N. Dunning, of South Norv^'alk, to the Rev. James M. 
Taylor, formerly of Norwalk, now of Vassar college. 

I should speak about the life service of this gentle- 
man whom you all think so much of and whom they 
thought the same of when I was a boy, the Rev. Mr. 
Selleck. 

He mentioned also Prof. Johnson, of Norwalk ac- 
quaintance, who wrote the history of Connecticut, and of 
others and pleaded for the education of the masses as a 

172 



means of preventing crime. The large allegiance is 
called patriotism; there is another patriotism, that of 
town pride and doing away with town prejudice. 

Rev. W. J. Slocum, of Waterbury, was the last 
speaker of the evening, and he was given an enthusiastic 
reception by his former parishioners and friends. He 
said : 

"I have not the good fortune to claim Norwalk as 
my birthplace. Most of you came to Norwalk by acci- 
dent; I came by choice. I made it my home, and have 
always felt that it was home. It is six years since I left 
the town. For a man to come back after six years and 
be greeted with such a manifestation of feeling as was ex- 
pressed here to-night, he would be more or less of a man 
not to be impressed by it. Were I asked to select a typi- 
cal community, I should choose Norwalk. Your history 
goes back to the very early history of Connecticut. As 
you look back you have everything to be proud of. The 
early settlers of Norwalk did not fill Mark Twain's de- 
scription of the colonists: 'They first fell on their knees, 
and then they fell on the Aborigines.' They dealt fairly. 
In tlie Revolutionary war they were in every field from 
Lexington to Yorktown. During that time Norwalk 
took it into its head that it was going to have the county 
seat. Bridgeport shook in its boots. Not a man, wo- 
man or child could sleep at night. I think that Norwalk 
came near getting it. Bridgeport had to send to New 
Haven, and get some of those cute fellows to help them 
out. 

"It is said if they did not play a game of bluflf, they 
played a pretty good game of euchre. I would pay this 
tribute to Norwalk people, I always found them just as 
Catholic as need be. They were always ready to meet 
me half W3.y. When I was finishing St. Mary's Church 
$i,ooo was contributed by non-Catholics." 

The meeting closed with the singing of America by 
the large audience. 



Jt^^^ 



173 



FOURTH DAY, SEPTEMBER TWELFTH 




[HIS day was a public holiday in all the 
Norwalks. It was set apart for a 
military and civic parade and it is 
agreed that the success of it far sur- 
passed anything of the kind previous- 
ly known in the town. The impossi- 
bility of an adequate description 
of the various divisions of the 
parade will be recognized. Suffice it but to say that in 
all respects the parade was a worthy termination of the 
anniversary celebration and an important day for Nor- 
walk. Several thousand strangers came into the city 
from every quarter and there was a great outpouring 
of the people of the towns such as never before been wit- 
nessed. The order of parade arranged by the Grand 
Marshal, Gen. Russell Frost, was as follows: 

Line of March — Head of the line at the armory. Up 
West avenue to Wall street, to Main street, to West 
Main street, to Catharine street, to Main street, to North 
avenue, to High street, to Wall, to East Wall, to Park 
street, around the Park to East avenue, to Van Zandt 
avenue, to Fort Point street, to Washington street, to 
South Main street, to Concord street, to Chestnut street, 
to Monroe street, to Railroad place, to North Main street, 
to West avenue, to arm.ory. 

General Russell Frost, Grand Marshall, and staff as 
Aides. 

THE PARADE. 

Captain A. A. Betts, Marshal of the Military Division 

and Aides. 

Fourth Regiment, 

Col. C. W. Hendrie and Staff, 

Resselles Marine Band, of New York. 

Fourth Section Brigade Signal Corps. 

Fourth Section Machine Gun Battery, 

Third Division Naval Battalion. 

Lieut. Governor E. O. Keeler, and Governor's Staff, 

State Ofhcials. 

Norwalk Town Officials, 

City of Norwalk Officials. 

City of South Norwalk Officials, 

Regent and Officers of the Norwalk Chapter, D, A. R, 

Historical Society and Celebration Representatives. 

174 



SECOND DIVISION. 

Assistant Chief F. W. Smith, Marshal of Fireman's 

Division and Aides. 

Norwalk Fire Department. 

Mertz's Band of Port Chester. 

Norwalk Fire Police. 

Phoenix Engine Company. 

Hope Hose Company. 

Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company. 

Steamer. 

Hose Wagon No. i. 

Hose Wagon No. 2. 

Hook and Ladder Truck. 

American Band, of New Haven. 

Bridgeport Fire Department. 

Stamford Fire Department. 

Drum Corps. 

Chief Bowman, of Stamford, and assistants. 

Oiiental Drum Corps. 

Members of Stamford Department. 

Steamer. 

ToiTington Band. 

Mutual Company of Torrington. 

Old Time Drum Corps. 

Old Forgotten Engine Company, of Bethel. 

Hand Engine. 

Westport Fire Police. 

Knowlton Fife and Drum Corps. 

Eagle Hook and Ladder Company, of Darien. 

Waterbury American Band. 

Thomaston Hook and Ladder Company, and Hose 

Carriage. 

Drum Corps. 

Storm Engine Company, of Derby, and Apparatus. 

Drum Corps. 

Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company, of Westport. 

Hand Engine. 

Drum Corps. 

Vigilant Engine Co., Westport. 

Drum Corps. 

Saugatuck Hose Company. 

St. Aloysus Drum Corps. 

Compo Engine Company. 

Danbury Band. 

Chief Seeley and Danbury Department. 

176 



New Canaan Department. 

Drum Corps. 

Volunteer Hook and Ladder Company, Darien, and 

Truck. 

Fourteenth Regiment Band, of New York. 

Volunteer Hook and Ladder and Hose Company, of 

Greenwich. 

Carriages with invited guests. 

SOUTH NORWALK FIRE DEPARTMENT. 



Colt's Band, of Hartford. 

Marshal, L M. Hoyt. 

South Norwalk Fire Police. 

New London Fire Police. 

Chief Baker, of South Norwalk, and assistants. 

Putnam Hose Wagon. 

Old Well Hook and Ladder Company. Truck. 

Band. 

Eagle Hose Company and Hook and Ladder Company, 

of New London. 

Drum Corps. 

Ridgefield Fire Department. 

Band. 

Crescent Flose Company, of Thomaston. 

Drum Corps. 

Hotchkiss Hose Company, of Derby. 

Wheeler & Wilson Band. 

Citizen Engine Company, of Seymour. 

Band. 

Fire Patrol, of Port Chester. 

Mellor Flose Company, of Port Chester. 

Protection Engine Company, of Port Chester. 

Carriages with invited guests. 



EAST NORWALK FIRE DEPARTMENT. 



East Norwalk Fire Police. 

Port Chester Cornet Band. 

Chief Wheeler and assistants. 

Mayflower Hook and Ladder Co., with truck bearing a 

miniature copy of the yacht "Mayflower." 

Chief Lounsbury, of Danbury. 

Drum Corps. 

Hose Companies 7, 8 and 9, of Danbury and apparatus. 

Drum Corps. 

176 



Southport Department. 

Truck. 

Enfcjine. 

Hose Wagon. 

Drum Corps. 

Fairfield Hook and Ladder Company. 

Truck. 

Drum Corps. 

R. M. Bassett Hook and Ladder Company, of Derby. 

Drum Corps. 

Eureka Hook and Ladder Company, of Bethel. 

Mayflower Drum Corps. 

Alert Hose Company, of Bethel. 



THIRD DIVLSION. 



Band. 

George W. Raymond, Marshal, and Aides. 

Thirty Indians on Horseback. 

Float. 

Uncas Tribe, of South Norwalk. 

Cockenoe Tribe, of Norwalk. 

Konckapatonah Tribe, of Bridgeport. 

Paugussett Tribe, of Danbury. 

Hamonassett Tribe, of New Haven. 

Ansantawae Tribe, of New Haven. 

Toantic Tribe, of Waterbury. 

Powahay Tribe, of Stamford. 

Pomis Tribe, of New Canaan. 

Tunxis Tribe, of Waterbury. 

Monnawauk Tribe, of Seymour. 

Delegates from Port Chester and Thompsonville. 



FOURTH DIVISION— CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS. 



Captain James L. Russell, Marshal, and Aides. 

old Guard Band, of New Haven. 

American Mechanics. 

John H. Plander and Aides. 

Banner and Flag. 

Four men in Continental Court Dress, and twelve men 

abreast in military Uniform, from Danbury. 

Forty Continentals. 

Allegorical Float. 

Large American Flag, 

Lincoln Council, of South Norwalk, and visitors. 

177 



Members of State Council. 

Rome Italian Band. 

South Norwalk Italian Society. 

George Dewey Society, Bridgeport. 

Hungarian Brass Band, of New York. 

South Norwalk Hunyadi Sick Benefit Society, President 

Stephen Balazs, Marshal. 
First Hungarian Sick Benefit Society, of South Nor- 
walk, President Joseph Schon, Marshal. 
St. Joseph's Church Society, Julius Elias, Marshal. 
Bridgeport Rakocy Local Sick Benefit Society, John 
Louchak, Marshal. 
These sections were followed by twelve floats, some 
of which were exceedingly tasteful and beautiful. A full 
description is impossible. They appeared in the follow- 
ing order: 

Norwalk Lodge of Elks. 

Yacht Columbia. 

Norwalk Iron Works. 

Willis H. Selleck. 

Comstock Brothers. 

Hoyt & Sons, New Canaan. 

Hubbell & Keeler. 

Boston Store. 

J. T. Sheehan. 

Krieger & Co. 

I. G. Hamilton. 

There were festivities and family gatherings and re- 
unions of old and new residents of the town and as the 
last rays of light fell upon the day there was a devout 
sense of thankfulness that the four days' celebration had 
ended so auspiciously. 




178 



PART SECOND 
NORWALK'S PATRIOTIC RECORD 

SOLDIERS IN THE INDIAN WAR. 

T a Tovvnenieetinge, January the I2th, 
1676, the Towne in consideration of 
the good service that the souldiers sent 
out of the towne ingaged and per- 
Bjw^=^=^ft<c^ formed by them in the Indian wars,' 
^^^^'^S^^ °^^ °^ respect and thankfulness to the 
1^^^^^^^^ sayed souldiers, doe with one consent 
and freely, give and grant unto so 
many souldiers as were in the service at the direful 
swamp fight, tw^elve acors of land ; and eight acors of 
land to so many souldiers as were in the next considera- 
ble service; and foure acors to those souldiers as were 
in the next considerable service; the sayed souldiers 
having libertie to take of the sayed granted lands within 
the bounds of the towne, provided that it be not upon 
ihose lands that are prohibited, and also such lands as 
are pitched upon before the date hereof by the proprie- 
tors or proprietor ; provided also the sayed grant is only 
to such souldiers as shall within one yeere, and possess 
and improve the sayed lands. 

NAMES OF SOLDIERS. 




John Roach, 






12 acres 


Daniel Benedict, 






12 acres 


Thomas Gregory, 






8 acres 


Thomas Hyatt, . 






7 acres 


Joseph Piatt, 






10 acres 


Jonathan Abbott, 






10 acres 


James Betts, 






5 acres 


Samuel Keeler, 






12 acres 


John Crampton, 






8 acres 


James Jupp, 






8 acres 


John Belding, 








Jonathan Stevenson, 


L79 




12 acres 



THE ROLL OF HONOR. 

Graves of Revolutionary Soldiers Buried in Norwalk, 
Wilton and Westport, Identified by the Norwalk 
Chapter, D. A. R. " 

UNION CEMETERY NORWALK. 

Hezekiah Betts, 1760-1837, private, Sergeant, pp. 165, 

486, (533, 650. 
Ur. Jonathan Knight, 1758-1829, surgeon's mate, pp. 

182, 635. 
Silas Betts, private, p. 457. 

TOWN HOUSE CEMETERY— NORWALK. 

Isaac Betts, 1760- 1827, private, p. 486. 

John Betts, i8og, private, p. 554. 

Jesse Bedient, 1746-1824, private, p. 458. 

Jabez Gregory, 1741-1824, captain, p. 457. 

Stephen Hoyt, 1762- 1827, private. 

Jarvis Kellogg, 1731-1815, private, p. 486. 

Hezekiah Lockwood, 1745-1816, private, pp. 455, 484, 

557- 
Nathan St. John, 1720- 1795, private, p. 486. 
Enoch Scribner, 1756-1816, sergeant and ensign, pp. 456, 

491. 557. 
Stephen St. John, 1732-180T, private, p. 457. 
James Selleck, 1732-1809, private, pp. 167, 486. 

EAST NORWALK CEMETERY— NORWALK. 

Hezekiah Hanford, 1722-1812, private (coast guard), p. 

557- 
John Eversley, 1736- 1798, private, pp. 486, 557. 
Stephen St. John, 1730-1785, colonel, p. 435. 
Daniel Eversley, 1740-1825, corporal, pp. 457, 486, 557. 
Stephen Lockwood, 1754-1830, private, pp. 162, 457, 

486, 538, 582. 
Samuel Marvin, Jr., 1740-1820, private, pp. 457, 486. 
William St. John, 1763- 1805, private, p. 557. 
James Fitch, third, 1758-1828, private, pp. 486, 457. 
Daniel Hanford, 1746-1797, private, pp. 486, 557. 
James Smith, 1756-1813, private, pp. 486, 557."^ 
Josiah Raymond, 1736- 1824, private, pp. 456, 586. 
David Comstock, 1720-1782, private, pp. 455, 484. 

180 



ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD— NORWALK. 

Richard Camp, 1741-1813, sergeant, p. 486. 
Asa Hoyt, 1745- 1806, lieutenant, p. 455, 484. 
Aaron Keeler, 1 759-1837, ensign, p. 231. 
John Lock-wood, 1734-1816, paymaster, p. 245. 
John Street, 1760-1833, private, p. 484. 
Hezekiah Whitlock, 1768-1836, private, pp. 522, 394. 
Hezekiah Whitney, 1790, private, p. 572. 

ROWAYTON— NORWALK. 

Moses Webb, 1756-1850, private, pp. 637, 662. 

John Richards, 1720-1790, householder keeping watch, 

p. 490. 
Stephen Raymond, 1757-J827, private, p. 484. 
Jesse Reed, 1822, householder keeping watch, p. 490. 
EH. Reed; 1743-1811, lieutenant and captain, pp. 424, 

435, 487, -|88, 619. 
Gershom Raymond, 1 725-1806, committee of safety, 

county congress, and household keeping watch. 
Paul Raymond, 1750-1828, clerk and sersfeant, pp. 4S6, 

487, 488. 
Rev. Moses Mather, D.D., 1718-1806, patriot pastor, 

Middlesex church, taken prisoner by the British, 
1781, New York prison ship six months. 
John Mather, 174 7- 1791, private, p. 619. 

PINE ISLAND CEMETERY— NORWALK. 

Nathan Hoyt, private, p. 455. 

William Bouton, sergeant, pp. 455, 484. 

Nathaniel Raymond, 1788-1824, private, pp. 484, 505, 

651,682.' 
Stephen Hyatt, 1762-1842, private, pp. 557, 650, 602. 
William Seymour, 1 762-1821, Heutenant, pp. 499, 578, 

647, 660. 
James Seymour, 1752-1834, quartermaster, pp. 382, 455, 

651. ' 
John Seymour, 1734-1786, private, pp. 485. 
Nathaniel Benedict, 1764-1832, private, pp. 455, 484, 650. 
Samuel Keeler, captain, 416. 
Stephen Wood, private, pp. 486. 

Daniel Hoyt, 1710-1786, private, pp. 422, 457, 650,, 662. 
Daniel Lockwood, private, pp. 456, 459, 487. 
Uriah Raymond, 1743-1821, ensign, pp. 424, 455, 484, 

626. 

181 



John Seymour, 1734- 1766, private, pp. 485. 

William' Hoyt, private, pp. 490, 650. 

Evert Qnintard, 1762- 1833, private, p. 651. 

James Quintard, private, p. 636. 

John Hoyt, Jr., private, p. 484. 

Nathaniel Raymond, Jr., private, pp. 455, 484. 

Marvin David, 1759-1842, private, p. 584. 

WESTPORT. 

Nathan Adams, 1721-1782, private, p. 628. 

Peter Adams, 1742-1806, private, pp. 456, 491, 523. 

Aaron Adams, 1759-1836, private, pp. 54, 106. 

Samuel Elmer, 1752-1777, lieutenant. 

Josiah Gregorv, 1761-1847, private, p. 456. 

Stephen Hanford, 1747-1838, private, pp. 491, 523. 

Phineas Hanford, 1713-1787, corporal, pp. 456, 491. 

David Judah, private, p. 486. 

Ozias Marvin, captain, pp. 454, 456. 

Josiah Taylor, 1702- 1781, private, pp. 238, 348, 394. 

Peter Tuttle, 1 755-1802, private, p. 67. 

Gamaliel Taylor, 1736-1815, lieutenant, pp. 424, 456, 491, 

523- 
Jonathan Taylor, 1759-1834, private, pp. 48, 92. 

Samuel Wood, 175S-1843, private. 

Prisoners from vicinity of Norwalk in prison ships 
and sugar house at New York during the Revolution. 

Rev. Moses Mather, D.D., taken from church on July 

22, 1781. 
John Clock, detained six months in New York. 
Thaddeus Bell, Middlesex, now Darien. 
James Bell. 
Joseph Mather. 

WILTON. 

Joseph Burchard, 1751 1842, private, p. 522. 

Moses Betts, 1751-1821, private, p. 458. 

Isaiah Betts, unknown sergeant, ensign, corporal, pp. 

158, 336, 641, 650. 
Azor Belden, 1749-1828, sergeant and captain, p. 458. 
Samuel Comstock, member of Cincinnati, 1739-1824, 

captain and major, pp. 230, 344, 354, 360. 
David Dunning, 1758-1833, private, p. 650. 

182 



Moses Gregory, 1763-1837, private, p. 650. 

Abraham Gregory, 1752-1790, sergeant and captain, pp. 

443, 4^6, 557, 629. 
Nathan Gilbert, 1746- 1837, sergeant and captain, pp. 45o» 

493, 515, 522, 626, 650. 
Deodate Gaylord, 1760-1840, private, pp. 522, 650, 622. 
John Grumman, 1746-1822, private, p. 458. 
Zadock Hubbell, 1757-1813, private, pp. 45^-477- 
Ezekiel Hawlev, 1748-1776, sergeant, p. 478. 
Daniel Hiirlbitt, 1741-1827, corporal and lieutenant, pp. 

458, 522. 
Alvan Hyatt, 1751-1835, corporal, pp. 67, 650. 
Nathan Hubbell, 1730-1801, corporal, pp. 234, 348. 
Justus Keeler, 1749-1821, private, pp. 458, 522. 
Thaddeus Keeler, 1737-1812, corporal, pp. 458, 522. 
Hezekiah Lyon, dates unknown, private, pp. 572, 616. 
Elias Morehouse, sergeant, p. 458. 
Matthew Marvin, 1705-1761, corporal and sergeant, pp. 

231. 349, 354, 363- 
Summers Middlebrook, 1749- .'835, private, pp. 458, 522. 
Thaddeus Mead, 1762-1843, private, pp. 582, 650, 662. 
Samuel Olmstead, 1747-1829, ensign, p. 458. 
Nathan Olmstead, dates unknown, private, pp. 67, 458, 

522. 
Asahe! Raymond, 1730-1782, private, p. 522. 
Zadock Raymond, 1764-1841, private, pp. 657, 662. 
Isaac Stewart, 1749-1820, private, p. 458. 
Samuel St. John, dates unknown, private, p. d'/ . 
Phineas St. John, 1760-1833, private, pp. 458, 522. 
Thaddeus Sterling, 1750-1837, quartermaster, pp. 443, 

657- 
David "VVhitlock, 1743-1810, private, 458. 
Daniel Westcott, 1719- 1806, private, pp. 68, 417, 651, 

622. 
Davis Westcott, 1719-1806, private, p. 164. 
Rev. Levi Dikeman, 1750-1835, private, p. 650. 
Benajah Strong Comstock, 1755-1814, private, pp. 458, 

522. 
Samuel Fitch, 1730, 1811, sergeant, pp. 55, 11, 112, 238. 
Daniel Gregory, 1743-1821, private, pp. 165, 650. 
Levi Tavlor, 1765-1853, lieutenant, pp. 57, 345, 651. 
Marker granted by Conn. S. A. R. 

Graves of Revolutionary soldiers in Norw'alk, Wil- 
ton and Westport. Identified by the Norwalk Chapter, 
D. A. R. 



NORWALK MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812. 
MILITIA. 



Andrew Akin. 
John Akin. 
Samuel Akin. 
Daniel T. Bartratn. 
Plum Bearslev. 
Holly Bell. 
Ammon Benedict. 
Asa Benedict. 
Lewis Bennett. 
David Betts. 
Philo Betts. 
Andrew Bigsby. 
John Bigsbee. 
Isaac Bishop, Corp. 
Samuel Bissa. 
Joseph Boughton, Capt. 
Isaac Bouton. 
Thomas Brady, Muse. 
Charles Brown. 
Lemuel Camp. 
John Cannon. 
Roswell Ceed, Corp. 
Isaac Church. 
James Clock, Lieut. 
David Comstock. 
Alanson Cowley. 
Bud Finch. 
Cyrus Pitch, Corp. 
Stephen Fitch. 
Horace Gills, Muse. 
Isaac Gred. 
John Gregory. 
John Griffith. 
Thomas Han ford. 
Seeley Hason. 
Ira Hoyt. 

Ralph Hoyt, Ensign. 
Samuel Hoyt. 
Stephen Hovt. 
Walter B. Hoyt. 
Ebenezer Hyatt. 
Charles Jarvis, Corp. 



Daniel Nash. 
John W. Nash. 
Nathan Nash. 
Conrad Newkirk, Sergt. 
David B. Nichols. 
Lewis Perry. 
Charles Raymond. 
George A. Raymond. 
Jabez Raymond. 
Uriah Raymond, Jr. 
Thomas Raymond. 
Waters Raymond. 
Isaac Rockwell. 
David Scofield. 
Richard Scott, Sergt. 
Nearza Scribner. 
Lyman Seeley. 
Frederick Selleck. 
Wray Sellick, Corp. 
James Seymour, Sergt. 
Uriah Seymour, Corp. 
Samuel B. Skidmore, Corp. 
Chapman Smith. 
Charles Smith, Muse. 
Ebenezer Smith. 
Frederick Smith. 
Henry Smith. 
James Smith. 
Joel Smith. 
John L. Smith, Corp. 
Joseph St. John. 
Stephen .St. John. 
Henrv Street. 
William L. Street. 
John Strut, vSergt. 
Samuel Strut. 
Adam Swan, 2nd Lieut. 
Uriah Tailor. 
Isaac Warren. 
Lewis Waterbury. 
Charles Weed. 
David Weed. 



184 



Uriah Johnson. 
Wilham Johnson. 
OUver Jones. 
Joseph Keeler, Sergt. 
Ezaih Kellogg. 
Tames S. Kellogg. 
Matthew Kellogg, Sergt. 
John Knapp, Corp. 
Benjamin Little. 
Jacob Little. 
David Lockwood, Corp. 
Nehemiah Lockwood, Lieut 

Col. 
Ira Marvin, Sergt. 



Raymond Mathews. 
George Weed. 
Henry Weed. 
Jarvis Weed. 
James B. Weed. 
John L. Weed. 
Scudder Weed. 
Sellich Weed, Sergt. 
William Weeks. 
Lewis Whitney. Sergt. 
Matthew Wilcox. 
William Willcox, Sergt. 
John Wireman. 
Joseph Wood. 



ENLISTED MEN. 



Henry Allen. 
Ethus Barthis. 
Moses Beers. 
Seth Bouton. 
Lewis Brown. 
Samuel Buttery. 
George Ehvood. 
Shubael Elwood, Sergt. 
Philo Hoyt. 



Abel Ilubbell, Sergt. 
Isaac E. Johnson. 
Joseph Knapp, Corp. 
Charles Lawrence. 
Daniel Nutting, Corp. 
Adam Parker. 
Zerv Stevens. 
John Webb. 



Names of U. S. Volunteers who served in the Civil 
War, — 1861-1865, and are buried in cemeteries as fol- 
lows : 

PINE ISLAND. 

John B. Bouton, Norwalk. 
Wm. S. Eouton, Norwalk. 
Albert Vantasel, Norwalk. 
Theo. B. Benedict, Norwalk. 
Geo. Joyce, Norwalk. 
Ruben Rogers, Norwalk. 
Oscar Tuttle, Norwalk. 
Geo. H. Meeker, Norwalk. 
Geo. W. Smith, Norwalk. 
John W. Whiteman, Norwalk. 
Sam. F. Smith, Norwalk. 
James E. Parks, Norwalk. 
N. S. Tuttle, Norwalk. 



185 



Francis Thomas, New York. 

Wm. Miller, Pennsylvania. 

Wm. Ho>1;, Norwalk. 

Geo. McCallins, Norwalk. 

J. L. Byington, Norwalk. 

Albert "Warren, New York. 

Chas. Jennings, Norwalk. 

Geo. E. Merrills, Norwalk. 

Steven Byxbee, Norwalk. 

Harry Goldspink, Norwalk. 

N. Crosman, Norwalk. 

Wm. Nash, Norwalk. 

John F. Byxbee, Norwalk. 

Geo. Wood, Norwalk. 

Wm. Mayhew, Norwalk. 

Henry C. Holmes, Norwalk. 

Henrv Masson, Massachusetts. 

Wm.'P. Smith, Noi-walk. 

Thos. Willson, New York. 

Wm. Davis, New York. 

Henry C. Taylor, Norwalk. 

Orlander Vanordu, Washington. 

H. Batchman, Unknown. 

Wm. Bauten, Norwalk. 

H. Benedict, Norwalk. 

Mrs. Douglas Fowler, wife of Douglas Fowler. 

Also nine others unknown. 

ROWAYTON CEMETERY— FIVE MILE RIVER. 

Geo. Dingey, Norwalk. 
G. Johnson, Not known. 
Chas. Ives, New York. 
Chas. Cloch, Darien. 
Wm. Hamon, Darien. 
Wm. Wood, Naugatuck. 
Henry Johnson, Norwalk. 
Henry Hallett, Norwalk, 
Gilbert Vincent, Darien. 
James E. Talmadge, Norwalk. 
Wm. Coperwaith, New York. 
John Mannus, New York. 
David Scofield, Norwalk. 
Henry Baker, Norwalk. 
Wm. H. Brady, Unknown, 
Edward Mills, Unknown. 

186 



Lyman Finch, Norwalk. 

S. H. Meeker, Darien. 

Geo. A. Hoyt, Norwalk. 

Wm. H. Ferris, Norwalk. 

Steven Ferris, Norv\'aJk. 

Wm. McGovern, Unknown. 

James Gregory, Unknown. 

Fred. Morton, Massachusetts. 

James Whitney, Darien. 

John H. Tooker, Darien. 

Elias Johnson, Unknown. 

Ira Bishop, Unknown. 

Edward Schnell, Pennsylvania. 

Martin Ingersol, Norwalk. 

Chas. H. Smith, Unknown. 

Eig-ht others imknown without identification. 



EAST NORWALK. 

N. Gamins:, 3^^ New York. 

Chas. St. Johns, Norwalk Sol. s 

Wm. Bates, New York Sol. 
Wm. Wheeler, Norwalk. 
Geo. Redman, New York. 
Washington Youngs, New York. 
Wm. Goodwin, New York. 
J. E. Lacy, Norwalk. 
Henry Raymond, Norwalk. 
Thos. Fitch, Norwalk. 
Francis Jones, Norwalk. 
J. A. Ames, Norwalk. 
Chas. Paddock, New York. 
Wm. R. Knapp, Norwalk. 
Geo. Knapp, Norwalk. 
Morris Jennings, Norwalk. 
Wm. Tubbs, Norwalk. 
H. H. Grey, Norwalk. 
Albert Whitney, New York. 
Jacob Witztine, New York. 
Chas. Knapp, Norwalk. 
Clark Osborn, Norwalk. 
Eph. Smith, New York. 
Seven others unknown, but are identified as soldiers' 
graves. 



187 



SOLDIERS' GRAVES. 

The following lists comprise names of U. S. Volun- 
teer soldiers interred in the several cemeteries in Nor- 
walk: 

RIVERSIDE CEMETERY. 

Anthony R. Canfield, 2d Lieut., Co. F, 8th C. V. 

James Westerfield, Co. K, 48 N. Y. Vols. 

John R. Brown, Co. F, 17th C. V. 

George W. Weed, Co. H, 17th C. V. 

Joseph Packard, Capt., 39th N. J. Vols. 

Theodore Brush, Co. F, 17th C. V. 

Albert R. Bishop, Co. H, 7th N Y. H. A. 

Thomas F. Nichols, Co. D, 51st N. Y. Vols. 

Cornelius L. Henry, U. S. Navy. 

Julius A. Elendorf,' Co. I, ist N. J. Vols. 

John Weston, Co. B. 2qth C. V. 

Thomas B. Weed, ist Lieut., Co. A, 17th C. V. 

John Ainley, U. S. Navy. 

Frederick Laramie, Co. B, 5th N. Y. H. A. 

Charles Smith, ist Lieut., Co. G, 17th C. V. 

General Nelson Taylor, U. S. Army. 

Enos Kellogg, Capt., Co. H, 17th C. V. 

Wm. R. Knapp, Co. C, 5th C. V. 

David M. Lane, U. S. Navy. 

Dr. Samuel Orton, U. S. Army. 

P. L. Cunningham, Lieut. Col., 8th C. V. 

Richmond Nisbet, Co. K, 13th C. V. 

Alanson S. Merwin. Co. G, 23d C. V. 

Nathan B. Clark, 8th N. J. Vols. 

Cyrus C. Barber, Co. K, 25th C. V. 

Edgar Buttery, Co. A, 17th C. V. 

Andrew Rusco, Co. G, loth C. V. 

George Taylor, Co. C, 2d C. V. 

Christian Lack, Co. E, ist N. Y, Cav. 

Charles Lawrence, Co. C, nth C. V. 

William Watter Farwell, Co. F, 6th C. V. 

William W. Westlake, Co. A, 17th C. V. 

John Dechel, Co. B, iiqth N. Y. Vols. 

WilHam A. Titus, Co. A, 17th C. V. 

Thomas O'Neal, Co. G, 15th N. Y. H. A. 

Austin Pope, Co. B, 7th N J. Vols. 

Augustus B. Brown, Co. D, ist Conn. Cav. 

Emanuel Vanclief, U. S. Navv. 

Henry M. Hobert, Co. B, 25th C. V. 

188 



Elijah Ballard, Co. G, 6th N.. Y. H. A. 
Isaac Smith, Co. F, 17th C. V. 
Alonzo P. Abbott, Co. E, 12th C. V. 
John W. Williams, U. S. Navy. 
Andrew J. Gilbert, U. S. Navy. 
George R. Kellogg, Co. G, 28th C. V. 
Robert Bones, Co. C, i/th C. V. 
One Unknown. 

ST. PAUL'S CEMETERY. 

Frank B. Smith, ist Lieut., Co. C, 2d 111. Art. 
George F. Daskam, 2d Conn. Light Battery. 
Albert H. Wilcoxson, Lieut. Col., 17th C. V. 
Edward G. Bishop, Asst. Paymaster, U. S. Navy. 
Oliver S. Bishop, Hospital Steward, 27th C. V. 
David St. John, War 1812. 
Capt. Edward Taylor, War 1812. 
Capt. Henry Wilson, U. S. Navy. 
Dr. John W. McLessa, Co. H, 37th N. Y. Vols., and 
Surgeon in U. S. Army. 

ST. MARY'S CEMETERY. 

James Ellis, Co. A, 15th N. Y. Eng. 

Joseoh Strapp, Co. G, 2d N. Y. H. A. 

Johii Harkins, Co. H, 8th C. V. 

Joseph McCormick, Co. H, ist Conn. Cavalry. 

Thomas Gilhooly, Co. G, 28th C. V. 

Peter Bo vie, Co". H, 8th and Co. H, 14th C. V. 

Patrick Ford, Co. A., 17th C. V. 

James O'Connor, Co. A., 3d C. V. 

Martin B. Leonard, Co. D, 8th N. Y. Vols. 

Joseph Kearney, U. S. Navy. 

Michael McGowan, U. S. Navy. 

Wm. Cockefur, Co. H, 9th N. Y. 

John Brown, Co. H, 13th C. V. 

James Hopkins, Co. E, 170th N. Y. Vols. 

James McGoy, Co. I, 35th N. J. Vols. 

James O'Brien, Co. G, 28th C. V. 

John Cahill, Co. F, 17th C. V. 

John Hennessey, Co. G, U. S. Inf. 

John Hayes, 88th N. Y. Vols. 

John Dugan, Co. F, 17th C. V. 

Martin Burns, 69th N. Y. Vols. 

Warren Sheldon, Co. K, ist Conn. Cavalry. 

189 



John Cahill, Co. M, 2d N. Y. Cavalry. 

Henrv Grady, Co. F, 8th C. V. 

Richard Colbiirt, N. Y. Reg. 

Michael O'Brien, Co, G, 28th C. V. 

Henry Layton, U. S. Navy. 

Michael Shields, Co. F, 69th N. Y. Vols. 

John Welch, Co. E, 12th C. V. 

Thomas Farrell, Co. F, 17th C. V. 

Armstead M. Pomeroy, U. S. Navy. 

James O'Brien, N. J. Reg. 

John McCormick, Co. G, 28th C. V. 

Albert Ayers, Record unknown. 

Patrick Dunbary, Co. K, 25th C. V. 

John Tracy, Co.'F, 17th C. V. ^ 

Thomas Tiemey, Co. G, 28th C. V. 

David O'Connor, Co. A, 3d and Co. G, 8th C. V. 

Patrick Fitzpatrick, Co. E, I2ih C. V. 

John Boyce, Co. G and L, 2d Conn. H. A. 

Elbert Avery, Co. B, 17th C. V. 

Michael Fitzgerald, Co. C, 2d N. H. Vols. 

Michael Carevv, New Jersey Vols. 

UNION CEMETERY. 

Gould J. Jennings, Capt. Co. G, 58th N. Y. Vols. 

James Hearn, Co. I, 17th C. V. 

Albert Deforest, Co. A, 14th C. V. 

Henr>' Allen, Lieut. Col., 17th C. V. 

Ebenezer F. Stevens, U. S. N. 

James L. Allen, Sergt , Co. D, 7th C. V. 

Joseph Comstock, Co. G, 23d C. V. 

Jesse Sherwood, Co. C, 28th C. V. 

Theodore L. Beckwith, Capt. Co. G, 28th C. V. 

George Marvin, Co. G, 28th C. V. 

Edwin Hawlev, Co. I, loth C. V. 

Robert Flynn', Co. A, 17th C. V. 

Ebenezer J. Pattenden, Co. H, 17th C. V. 

Wm. Henry Merrill, Co. G, 5th C. V. 

George W. Burtis, Co. G, loth C. V. 

James Banks, Co. B, 165th N. Y. Vols. 

Allen P Hubbell, Co. C, 27th C. V. 

Moses Ansbury Hill, Major U. S. Army. 

Henry Foster, Co. L, ist Conn. Cav. 

Eli R. L. Kent, Co. A, 4th N. Y. H. A. 

Charles Cargill, Co. F, 17th C. V. 

Wm. Hoey, 36th N. Y. Vols. 

igo 



Wm. L. Bodwell, Co. G, 27th C. V. 

Charles L. Smith, Co, F, 17th C. V 

Artlmr W. Dudley, Co. B, 17th C. V 

Albert H. Lockwood, Co. E, 23d C. V. 

Samuel Clark, U. S. N. 

Edwin R. Lineburg, 5th C. V. 

Edwin Lineburg, Co. H, 8th C. V. 

John T. Brown, Co. C, 27th C. V. 

Gersham Lockwood, War 1812. 

Francis L. Mead, loth N. Y. Vols. 

Thomas Brady, War 1812; for Oliver, 5th C. V. 

Edward Grindrod, Co. A, T7th C. V. 

Francis A. Volk, Co. C, 21st Pa. Vols. 

Horace A. Cockefur, Co. I, 28th C. V. 

Ferdinand Griffith, U. S. N. 

Robert N. Perry, Co. F, 17th C. V. 

John Cockefur, Co. H, 8th C. V. 

Henry M. Prowett, Co. E, 12th C. V. 

James L. Ambler, Co. C, 27th C. V. 

James H. Mitchell, Co. G, 28th C. V. 

Edwin Carpenter, Co. K, 17th C. V. 

Nathaniel W. Brotherton, Co. G, 14th U. S. I. 

Philo Johnson, Co. D, 17th N. Y. Vols. 

Hiram' W. Gcrham, Co. G, 17th C. V. 

Frederic P. Godfrey, Co. H, ist C. V., and Co. M, ist 

Conn. H. A. 
Charles Murray, Co. F, 17th C. V. 
Charles E. Doty, Lieut. Co. F, 17th C. V.; first Union 

soldier buried in Norwalk. 
Owen Murphy, Co. E, 5th C. V. 
Justice Disbrow, Co. I, 41st Ohio Vols. 
Orion S. Ferry, Major General U. S. Vols. 
Henry H. Williams, Co. A, I7lh C. V. 
George Lowe, Co. B, 2d Conn. H. A. 
Gilbert Bogart, Lieut. Co. E, 12th C. V. 
D. C. Palmer, Co. A. 6th C. V. 
John E. Hoyt, Co. A, 28th C. V. 
Alfred Swords, Co. A, 17th C. V. 
George Kellogg, Co. C, 27th C. V. 
Jacob Schwartz, Co. I, 9th N. Y. Vols. 
Wm. O. Godfrey, Co. F, 17th C. V. 
Charles E. Hvatt, Co. A, 22d N. Y. S. M. 
John Jarvis, ist Sergt. Co. A, 17th C. V. 
Henry M. Seers, Co. A, 14th C. V. 
Charles E. Blackman, U. S. A. 
Samuel Wyman, Co. A, 17th C. V. 



191 



Alfred Hall, Co. E, 5th N. Y. H. A. 

Wallace B. Parks, Co. F 1st N. Y. Mounted Rifles. 

Alexander Lounsbury, Co. A, 17th C. V. 

Henry A. Whetmore, Capt. 2d N. Y. Cav. 

Joshua Lounsbury, Co. F, 17th C. V. 

Wm. H. Fox, Co. A, 17th C. V. 

Sylvester Keeler, Co. F, 17th C. V. 

Nathan Nash, Co. G, 28th C. V. 

Robert L. Ells, ist Lieut. Co. A, 17th C. V. 

Wm. H. Hamilton, Co. G, 28th C. V. 

Hiram L. Finch, Co. F, 6th N. Y. Vols. 

Edwin G. Hoyt, U. S. N. 

Edward Shepard, 7th Ind., Battery N. Y. 

Theodore Coleman, Co. G, 196th Pa. Vols. 

Daniel Hoyt Blake, Chaplain Christian, Conn. 

Roswell Taylore, Co. B, T3th C. V. 

Edward F. Lvon, 2d Conn. H. A. 

Charles H. Sargent, Co. A, 13th N. Y. 

Gustaye Richter, Record Unknown. 

Frank M. Piatt, Co. G, loth C. V. 

George W. Fink, Co. PI, 5th L. S. Art. 

Capt. Samuel Keeler, Conn. Mil. 

John Cotter, U. S. N. 

Edward Hawley Fitch, Co. G, 5th N. Y. Cav. 

Wm. De F. Prentiss, Capt. 31st N. Y. Vols. 

George H. Stevens, Co. H, 17th C. V. 

James Barbour, H. S., 21st Conn. Vols. 

C. Fred Betts, Capt. Co. F, 17th C. V. 

Lewis Benedict. Co. H, T7th C. V. 

Wm. S. Bouton, Sergt. Co. G, 28th C. V. 

Isaac Camp, Co. F, 17th C. V. 

Monson Hoyt, ist Sergt. Co. E, 5th C. V. 

James L. Dyes, Co. A, 17th C. V. 

James Charlton, U. S. N. 

Edward Nelson, Co. E, 5th C. V. 

Robert S. Hubble, Record Unknown. 

James W. Crozier, 12th U S. I. 

Andrew^ Smith, 17th Vermont Inf. 

Augustus Burton, Co. B, 29th C. V. 

Cornelius Nash, Co. B. 29th C. V. 

Peter Cronk, Co. H, 128th N. Y. Vols. 

Edwaid Mofiftt, Co. D, 7th C. V. 

Charles Annin, New York Vols. 



NORWALK MEN IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN, 

1898. 

Lieut. Col. Frederick A. Hill, Judge Advocate. 

Capl. Reuben M. Rose, Co. L, 3rd Conn. Vol. Inf. 

First Lieut. William W. Bloom, Co. L, 3rd Conn. 
Vol. Inf. 

Second Lieut. William I. Comstock. Co. L, 3rd 
Conn. Vol. Inf. 

Second Lieut. Howard T. Bloomer, Co. F, 3rd Conn. 
Vol. Inf. 

CO. L, 3rd CONN. VOL. INF. 

1st Sergt. John H. Smith. 
Wm. Rauch. 
Albert H. Buttery. 
Q. M. Sergt. George C. Meekan. 
Sergt. Cyrus J. Crabbe. 
" Henry H. Payne. 
" John H. Chase. 
Corp. Milo C. Brown. 

Arthur E. Godfrey. 
" Coles M. Flewellin. 
" Ira C. Lockwood. 
" Frank H. Webber. 
" Frank Neugebauer. 
Edward Brotherton. 
" Albert R. Scofield. 

William G. Abendroth. 
" John H. Beagan. 
" Emil Durbeck. 
" William H. Guthrie. 
■' Henrv W. Hopson. 
" Peter F. O'Brien. 
" James A. Riley, 
" Albert Tetzner. 
" William J. Troy. 
Musician Harvey S. Richmond. 

Frank Eigner. 
Private Edward Burkedal. 
" Fred Brown. 
'' Ulysses G. Buttery, 
■' Matthew Britt. 
David Brennan. 

193 



Private George C. Castle. 

John J. Cahill. 
" James Crawford. 

Robert Cullen. 
" Ernest B. Cornell. 
" Charles A. Davis. 
" William Donnelly. 
" Michael J. Dougherty. 

Roval A. Ellis. 
" John E. Fell. 
" George F. Flinn. 
" John Gorman. 
" Frederick W. Godfrey. 
" George W. Hopkins. 
" Beekman F. Hall. 
" Joseph F. Henry. 

Wm. FI. Hadley. 
" John Kincella. 
" Joe Keller. 
" John J. Keogh. 
" Philip J. Landrigan. 
" Arthur G. Lovejoy. 
" Thomas J. McGarry. 

Wallace W. Morris. 
" Arthur S. Norman. 

John W. Oakes. 
" Charles H. Osbom. 
" Charles E. Parker. 

Warden B. Phillips. 
" John Peterson. 
" Frank P. Rooney. 
" Joseph Sargent. 
" Joseph F. Sturm. 
" Valentine Sturm. 
" George L. Sullivan. 
" Wm. Sheehan. 
" Peter Storey. 
" John P. Weyerhauser. 

Hospital Steward Hubert F. Pierce (N. C. S.). 
Corp. George Brotherton, Co. H, 3rd Conn. Vol. 
Inf. 

Sergt. Howard N. Godfrey, Battery B, ist Conn. 
Heavy Artillery. 

Private Willis L. Cavenagh, Battery B, ist Conn. 
Heavy Artillery. 

IM 



Private Richard Fitzgerald, Battery B, ist Conn. 
Heavy Artillery. 

Private Charles F. Guarnieri, Battery B, ist Conn. 
Heavy Artillerv. 

Private Anthony B. Ghiotto, Battery B, ist Conn. 
Heavy Artillery. 

Private William Gilmore, Battery B, ist Conn. 
Pleavy Artillery. 

Private Charles Leppert, Battery B, ist Conn. 
Heavy Artillery. 

Private Anthony Stenger, Battery B, ist Conn. 
Heavy Artillery. 

First Sergt. Wni. T. Ainley, U. S. A., Signal Corps. 

Sergt. Major John D. Milne, ist Conn. Vol. Inf. 

Private Geo. W. Hvatt, Co. M, 41st U. S. Vol. Inf. 




106 



INDIAN TROUBLES SOON AFTER 
GRANTING OF THE CHARTER 
CREATING THE TOWN OF 
NORWALK, SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH 
SIXTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-ONE 




E FIND our Military History begins 
in 1660, and Sergeant Richard Olm- 
stead is the first name of which we 
have any record as a soldier. He, 
with Thomas Fitch, was appointed 
by the Colony to look after the 
Indians, who began to be very trouble- 
some. These two men had under 
their command eighteen horsemen, four of them from 
Norwalk, so vve here begin our Military History on a 
small scale, but these eighteen horsemen had a very 
quieting effect on the Indians, and they did not cause 
our people much trouble until 1675, when again they 
began to make trouble, and Norwalk was called upon 
to furnish its quota, which it did. These men served 
under Capt. Seeley, of Stratford, and thev took part in a 
severe swamp fight Dec. 19th, 1675, i" which fight brave 
Capt. Seeley was killed. The soldiers who were from 
Norwalk were: John Roach, Daniel Benedict, Samuel 
Keeler and Jonathan Stevenson. Following this fi.ght 
the Indians kept our people constantly on the alert and 
had several severe fights. The number of soldiers from 
Norwalk was increased by the enlistment of Thomas 
Gregory, Thomas Hyatt, Joseph Piatt, Jonathan Abbott, 
John Crampton, James Tupp and John Belding. These 
men all did heroic service and the town at that time 
showed that their services were appreciated by calling a 
town meetmg held in 1676. It was voted, in considera- 
tion of tlie good service rendered the town by the above- 
named soldiers, to give them each twelve acres of land. 
After this the early settlers got along very well until 
1744 to 1763, when again Norwalk was called upon to 
furnish Its quota of soldiers to fight the Indians and 
I^reiich m the year 1757. There were 350 men of the 
regular army stationed in Norwalk. They erected win- 
ter quarters and remained here all winter,' and the town 

196 



provided for them, at no small cost, for the town at that 
time was small. But the people knew they had to make 
sacrifices, so did all they could cheerfully. A little later 
we find soldiers from Norwalk in an expedition to Cape 
Breton, who were present at the capture of Louisburg. 
Again thev fought at Montmorency, Quebec, at Crown 
Point and Ticonderoga. The War of the Revolution 
was now upon our people and from 1775 to 1783 Nor- 
walk was well represented, for the Colonial Army in the 
spring of 1775, the Fifth Regiment, was mainly recruited 
from Fairfield County, and Norwalk sent a company. 
The officers of this company were Capt. Matthew Mead, 
First Lieut. Levi Taylor, Second Lieut. Wm. Seymour. 
There were a large number of the citizens of Nor- 
walk, but we are unable from the records to obtain the 
names of all those who enlisted from Norwalk. This 
company saw very severe service during its seven 
months' campaign. Again in 1777 we were called upon 
to furnish another regiment from Fairfield county. This 
regiment v\'as called the Fifth Regiment, Conn. Line, 
and in it Norwalk was again represented by nearly a 
whole company, who were to serve three years or dur- 
ing the war. This regiment saw severe service, was en- 
gaged at the battle of Germantown, October, 1777; win- 
tered with Washington at Valley Forge, winter of 1777 
and 1778; was at battle of Monmouth, June 1778; win- 
tered at Redding, Conn., winter of 1778 and 1779, ^^ 
what is now Putnam Park. Our men in this regiment 
were kept constantly on the move from this time until 
the expiration of their term of service. We find it im- 
possible to obtain from the records the names and the 
number of men from No'-v.-alk who participated in the 
War of the Revolution. But enough is found to war- 
rant us in saying that whatever of patriotism we may 
have in our blood to-day we came honestly by it from 
the example of the heroes of the Revolution. 

Tn the War of 18x2 we were again called upon to 
furnish our quota for this short war. We find that the 
militia only were called upon, and they did not suffer 
any loss. We find that we have a record of 108 of our 
citizens who at that time were members of the militia. 
They were in the service but few days, but were ready 
when called upon for any service required of them. 

We next come to 1845-1848, the Mexican War, in 
which we were not called upon to furnish any men, but 
there were quite a number of enlisted men from Nor- 



197 



walk in the regular army, as this state had no organiza- 
tion in which they could enlist. We have no record of 
any losses from Norwalk in this war. 

CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865. 

Fort Sumpter was tired upon by the Confederate 
forces in Charleston Harbor, and so had the blood of the 
nation been fired by their so doing. It was on Monday, 
April 15th, 1861, that the President issued his first call 
for troops. It was for 75,000 men to serve for the period 
of ninety days. The news in some way reached here 
Sundav night that the President had called for troops 
and enrly Monday morning the excitement began. We 
had among us at that time, as now, men who loved their 
country and though too aged or infirm or through their 
business associations could not take their rifle in hand, 
but could help in many wavs, especially with their 
money. The first of our leading citizens that we remem- 
ber that entered into the spirit of the day was Mr. Eben 
Hill. Upon his hearing that the President had called 
for troops, on Monday morning early, he had his horse 
hitched to his carriage and taking his son, Eben, Jr., 
(now the successful manager of the Norwalk Iron 
Works) who was then quite a lad, started down the street 
and went to the old pottery, then situated south of the 
railroad, where now stands a portion of the Norwalk 
Iron Works, to see General Guyer who, at that time, 
was the Commander of the Connecticut militia, to see 
what could be done to immediately begin the raising of 
a company of volunteers. The General was waiting for 
orders from the Governor, but Mr. Hill wanted to be 
ready as soon as call should come. He found a drum- 
mer and fifer and had them parade the streets of South 
Norwalk. He also saw some of the clergymen and one 
of thern made the first war speech in Norwalk. I think 
it M^as the Rev. T. I. Wooley, at that time pastor of the 
Firf,t M. E. Church. South Norwalk men began to en- 
list at once and a full company was recruited under 
Capt. Douglas Fowler, and was attached to the Third 
Connecticut Regiment. Mr. Hill was a friend of the 
soldiers all through the war and did not forget them 
even when the war was over. We had among us at that 
time a number of our leading citizens who pledged them- 
selves to care for the families of the men who enlisted in 
the first companies that went from Norwalk. The ex- 

198 



citement was running very high while the quoto to 
serve three months was being filled and, in fact, did not 
abate much during the four years of the war. In Au- 
gust, 1862, again men were needed badly by the govern- 
ment and to encourage enlistments another of Nor- 
walk's citizens came to the front and to fill the ranks of 
Company F, 17th Conn. Regt., which was named after 
him, he offered every man $25. This was Legrand 
Lockwood, another noble man who never forgot the 
men who went at their country's bidding. Even to the 
time of his death he remembered them, and would do all 
he could to help any worthy soldier. When the war 
broke upon us we were not prepared for it in many ways. 
Tlie state did not have arms to arm its troops and did 
not have clothing and equipments for the men who were 
flocking to Hartford and New Haven, and to procure 
these needed supplies required a large amount of money, 
which the treasurv of the state did not possess at that 
time, and among the banks of the state which were first 
to offer a loan to the state was the old Fairfield County 
Bank, which offered to the Governor $30,000 to arm and 
equip the ist, 2nd and 3rd Regiments, then being form- 
ed, these being the Regiments called for three months' 
service and then flocking to New Haven and Hartford. 

There were a great many people at that time who 
thought the war would not last over three months, and 
in fact some of the men who had enlisted and had not 
been assigned to any Regiment thought there would be 
no use for them and many went back to their homes. 
But that was not to be. as Vv-as shown during the four 
awful years that followed. Space and time will not al- 
low us to give the names of all those who went at their 
country's call and. Oh, how many have not come back 
to those whom they loved. We still see the evidence 
of that awful war about us. We have many of the wid- 
ows yet in their mourning for the one who never re- 
turned, and we still see the aged men with an empty 
sleeve or upon crutches, but as the years pass by all of 
these groAv less, and in a few years the soldiers of the 
M-ar of 1861 to 1865 will have passed over to the great 
army who hold the advance, and are now at peace. Be- 
fore we begin to enumerate those who gave their ser- 
vices to their country we want to say that when the war 
was ended and the men came home, those factories and 
places of employment from which so many of us went, 
were open to us, especially the Non^'-alk Lock Co., from 

199 



which factory a large ntimber enUsted, and as soon, as 
the war was ended and the men came home they fourid 
places for all of their old help, and so, in every place in 
Norwalk from which men enlisted. 

Among- those from Norwalk who were first to offer 
their services to the Government were Hon. Orris S. 
Ferry, at that time our member of Congress and Hon. 
A. H. Byington, (who was always a good friend to the 
soldiers, especially the boys from Norwalk.) These 
two of Norwalk 's citizens were in Washington, D. C, 
when the war broke upon us and both of whom enhsted 
in the Cassius M. Clay Guard, in Washington, D. C, 
which organization patroled the streets of Washington 
until relieved by the troops from the North. 

The 1st Conn. Regiment was the first to receive any 
men from Norwalk. We find that the first to enlist to 
the credit of old Norwalk were Theodore Benedict, 
Thomas D. Brown, Geo. D. Keeler, Thomas Hooton, 
Morris Kransynky, Wm. C. Murphy, James Reed and 
Howard Wheeler. These eight men were Norwalk's 
representatives in the ist Conn. Vols, in the 2nd Conn. 
Inf. There was but one man from our town that we 
find anv record of, Samuel C. Barnum. Then comes the 
3rd Conn. Inf., on April 24th, 1861, Co. G, of this Regi- 
ment was enlisted and excepting one man, were all from 
Norwalk. The officers of this company were Capt, 
Douglas Fowler, ist Lieut. Gilbert Bogart, 2nd Lieut. 
Stephen D. Byxbee, ist Sergt. James L. Russell. In 
this company were seventy-eight enlisted men from our 
town. To David O'Connor of this company is the honor 
due of being the first soldier from the town of Norwalk 
who was confined in Libby Prison, he being captured at 
the Battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861, being confined in 
prison ten months. 

The Battle of Bull Run having been fought and lost 
to the Federals, the President on May 3rd, 1861, called 
for 42,000 men to serve three years, or during the war. 
Our state was called upon to furnish but one Regiment, 
and in that Regiment wer^ twenty-five men from our 
town. Among these was Moses A. Hill, (brother of our 
present Congressman) who afterward was promoted to 
a captaincy and served with credit on the stafif of Gen. 
Burnside. On May 4th, 1861, the President called again 
for 75,000 men to serve three years or during the war. 
The 5th or Colt's Regiment, being the first Regiment to 
organize under this call. In this Regiment were from 



soo 



Norwalk, Col. Orris S. Ferry, Chaplain Geo. W. Lash- 
er, Capt. Alfred A.Chinnery, Lieut. Chas. A. Reynolds, 
Lient. Stiles G. Hyatt, now of New York, Lieut. Geo. 
F. Selleck, now of Bethany, Conn. In this Regiment 
were fiftv-four enlisted men from Norwalk. Nathaniel 
S. Wheeler of Co. E, of this Regiment, was the first 
enlisted man from the town of Norwalk, who died in 
the service, he having died August 28th, 1861, at Sandy 
Hook, near Harper's P'erry, Va. At Battle of Cedar 
Mountain. Va., on August 9th, 1862, the first blood of 
Norwalk was poured out. In this battle. Color Sergt. 
Elijah B. Jones, Corp. Oliver S. Brady, Private Owen 
Murphy, all of Norwalk, were killed. Sergt. Wm. A. 
Ambler, wounded. We beheve these to be the first of 
Norwalk's citizens to fall in the Civil War. The Regi- 
ment to follow the 5th was the 6th Regiment, Infantry, 
in which were fiity-two men credited to Norwalk. Most ' 
of these joined the Regiment in 1863, as recruits. Then 
followed the 7th Regiment, in which we sent twenty- 
four enlisted men and Lieut. Thomas Hooton, who was 
killed on James Island, June i6th, 1862. Among those 
who were killed or died of wounds in this Regiment, 
were [ames L. Allen, Oscar Smith, Theodore B. Bene- 
dict and John T. Byxbee. 

In the fall of 1861, October 17th, the 8th Regiment, 
Conn. Infantry, left the state and had among its officers 
and men, Lieut. Col. P. L. Cunningham, Chaplain J. J. 
Wooley, who was at that time pastor of the First M. E. 
Church, South Norwalk, Capt. Douglas Fowler, Capt. 
James L. Russell, Lieut. M. L. Pelham, Lieut. Thos. S. 
Weed, Lieut. Justus T. Crosby, Lieut. Anthony R. Can- 
field. In this Regiment we had from Norwalk forty- 
eight enlisted men. 

M. S. Lyon died March 4, 1864; John Cockfer died 
August II, T863 ; Stephen H. Ferris died February 18, 
1862; Chas. E. Merrill died September 13, 1863; Peter 
Monehan died February 24, 1866; Peter Pound died 
January 7, 1862; Henry C Taylor died April 29, 1862; 
Thomas E. Richmond killed June 3, 1864. 

In the 9th Regiment v/hich followed immediately af- 
ter the 8th, there were but two men from Norwalk. In 
the loth Regiment we sent fourteen men. In the nth 
Reginient we were represented by four of our citizens. 
The 1 2th Regiment. Company E, had thirty-nine of its 
members from Norwalk. The officers of this Company 
were Capt. Stephen D. Byxbee, ist Lieut. Gilbert Bo- 

soi 



gart, 2nd Lieut. Joseph P. Grossman. Among those 
who' died or were killed, from Norwalk, were Stanton 
Babcock, killed June 23, 1863 ; Sergt. Henry M. Prowitt, 
Corp. Samuel Clark, Sergt. George Maculess, killed 
June 10, 1863; Wm. B. Hurd, James L. Brundage, Hen- 
r)' Vanderbilt, John Youngs. 

The 13th Regiment did not leave the state until the 
spring of 1862, and had to the credit of Norwalk fourteen 
of its members. The 14th Regiment was the first Regi- 
ment under the call of the President on July ist, 1862. 
In this Regiment we find we had twenty-four men, Avho 
helped to make a record second to none for the soldiers 
of Norwalk. In the 15th we had three men; the i6th 
had none from Norwalk. The 17th Infantry was a Fair- 
field County Regiment and in it was two whole com- 
panies and in several of the companies were men who 
were counted upon as being the quoto of Non\^alk. ^ Go. 
A had for its officers, Gapt. Douglas Fowler, ist Lieut, 
John McQuhae, 2nd Lieut. John W. Craw, 2nd Lieut. 
G. Fred Betts. 

Company F had for its officers Gapt. Enoch Wood, 
Gapt. Henry Allen, Gapt. G Fred Betts, ist Lieut. Wm, 
S. Knapp, 2nd. Lieuts. Wm. A. Kellogg, Ghas. E. Doty, 
Geo. W. Shaw. Norwalk had to its credit in this Regi- 
ment 198 enlisted men. Among them who gave their 
lives for their country in this Regiment were Lieut. Col. 
Douglas Fowler, Lieut. Col. Albert H, Wilcoxson, Sergt, 
Edwin R. Sm.ith, Corpls. Thomas D. Brown, James 
Waterworth, Wm. W. Westlake; Privates Henry H. 
Aiken, Geo. B. Hendrick, John W. Jackson, Calvin 
Nobles, Geo. (). Tuttle, Henry Burns, Joseph H. Arm- 
strong, Lewis Arnold, Nelson Beach, John W. Metcalf 
and William Smedley. 

In the 18th and 20th Regiments we find none to the 
ciedit of our own town. In the 21st we were represent- 
ed by Dr. James E. Barbour. In the 22nd Regiment 
Norwalk was not represented. This was the last of the 
White Regiments for three years' service. November 
17th, 1862, the 23rd Regiment, the first of the six Regi- 
ments for nine months' service, left New Haven for New 
Orleans. Norwalk had but two men in this Regiment. 
In the 24th, 25th and 26th we had none. In the 27th we 
had fourteen men. Among their dead we find from 
Norwalk, Wm. L. Bodwell, killed at Gettysburgh ; Wil- 
bur Nash, killed at Fredricksburgh. The 28th Regiment 
was the last of the Regiments for nine months' service. 



202 



This Regiment left New Haven November 19th, 1862. 
In this Regiment we were well represented, Co. G being 
nearly all men from Norwalk. The officers were Capt. 
Theodore L. Beckwith, ist Lieut. Wm. Mitchell, 2nd 
Lieut. Henry Ayres and sixty-nine enlisted men Among 
those who gave their lives were George Beers, Benjamin 
F. Hanford, Thomas F. Dowd and John Roach. 

The 29th Conn, was the first Regiment of colored 
troops raised in this state and Norwalk was represented 
in this Regiment by twenty-seven enlisted men. In the 
30th Conn., Colored Regiment, which was the last Regi- 
ment sent by the state, Norwalk had none to its credit. 
The Tst, 2nd and 3rd Conn. Batteries of Artillery, Nor- 
walk sent sixteen men. The 2nd Heavy Artillery being 
a Litchfield County Regiment, we had but twenty-two 
men to represent our town. 

Norwalk had its citizens not only in Regiments from 
our own state but we find them in the regular army, but 
get the credit for only four; also in the navy, we had 
several of our citizens, but can find the record of but 
two, Edward G. Bishop and Joseph Skidmore. 

Among the ofiticers appointed by the President we 
find the name of Major Genl. Wm. T. Clarke, who was 
a citizen of Norwalk and served with distinction on the 
staff of Major Gen. McPherson, who was killed in front 
of Atlanta, July 22nd, 1864. 

While we are trying to give a record of the number 
of men furnished by the town of Norwalk, we find it im- 
possible to get a complete record of those who enlisted 
in other states, who were citizens of Norwalk. Those 
whom we find accredited to our town are: 
Geo. H. Waterburv, 2nd N. Y, Cav. 
Wm. H. Bates, 5th N. Y. Inf. 
Geo. T. Buxton. 9th N. Y. Inf. 
Wm. Cockefer, 9th N. Y. Inf. 
Justice Disbrow, 41st Ohio. 
Lewis W. Doty, 8th N. Y. 
Edward H. Fitch, 5th N. Y. Cav. 
Edward Llolley, loth N. J. 
James B. HoA-t, Capt. 9th N. Y. 
Chas. G. Hyatt, 48th N. Y. 
Gould J. Jennings, Capt. 59th N. Y. 
Philo Johnson, 17th N. Y. 
John F. Lovejoy, 81st N. Y. 
John M. McLean, 37th N. Y. 
Wm. E, Montgomery, nth N. Y. Cav. 



Samuel B. Sherwood, i6th N. Y. Arty. 

Frank B. Smith, 2nd 111. Arty. 

Wm. R. Green, 35th N. J. 

John O'Conner, 35th N. J. 

Stephen Maning, 17th N. Y. 

We find by the records tliat the town of Norwalk 
furnished nearly Soo men during the war, and if we could 
but get at the records of other states there is no doubt 
of our finding that fully 1,000 men of our town were 
furnished to put down the most wicked of rebellions, and 
how many of our Norwalk boys gave their lives to down 
that rebellion we can never tell. 

We find that the losses for the State of Connecticut 



were : 



Killed in battle, . 






1,240 


Missing, probably killed, 




107 


Died from accidents, 




112 


Fatally wounded, . 






740 


Died in prison. 






689 


Died of disease, . 






2,801 


Wounded, 






';,i66 


Accidentally wounded, 






58 


Captured, 






4,075 


Discharged for disability, 




4,824 


Unaccounted for at must 


er out 




352 



Total loss of Connecticut, 



20,164 



In trying to get together the facts concerning Nor- 
walk, in the wars of the past we are sorry that there is 
not a more complete record of the men who stood"' in the 
breach and gave their lives to their country, as in the 
Revolution, we only wish we could have been able to as- 
certain just who these patriots were, but we should be 
pleased to know that nearly all of whom we have no 
record as being from our town, are duly credited to the 
little State of Connecticut, of which we are all proud. 

With the end of the Civil War in the summer of 
1865, most of the boys of 1861, who were alive, came 
home, putting aside the implements of war and taking 
up the pursuits of peace. And we want to say in closing 
that as a rule the country has kept its pledges to its sol- 
diers, especially the aged, infirm and crippled. 

At the grand review of the Army of Sherman and 
Grant, which was held at Washington, in May, 1865 

S04 



there was suspended across Pennsylvania avenue, a very 
large banner upon which were these words: Tlie only 
debt this country can never pay is the debt of gratitude 
it owes its Soldiers and Sailors, and this debt the coun- 
try has been paying in many ways during the past thirty- 
six years. We recall the fact that among the soldiers of 
the Civil War who reached the highest round of the lad- 
der of fame were Gen. Grant, Gen. Garfield, Gen. Hayes 
and the late honored president, Wm. McKinley who, 
when he enlisted, was a young man of about eighteen 
and was a lieutenant in the Regiment of which President 
Hayes was the colonel. So we might go on and fill a 
book with the names of soldiers whom the country has 
honored, and prove that as a rule this Republic has been 
grateful to its defenders. Individuals sometimes forget 
t'le men who left all and went to fight the battles of the 
nation, but the nation does not forget them, even in their 
old age. 

In closing this article on Norwalk after 250 years, 
we earnestly hope that the one who writes 250 years 
hence will not have to record the facts as we have tried to 
do, but we hope that there will be a better way of set- 
tling all our differences than with powder and ball. 

C. F. HALLOCK. 




M5 



SOUTH NORWALK LADIES' 
PATRIOTIC SOCIETY, 1861-1865 




By Harriet Aymar. 

N July following the fall of Fort Sum- 
ter, when war had actually begun be- 
tween the North and South, and 
troops were mustering in cities and 
villages throughout our northern land, 
a few ladies met at the home of Mrs. 
Burr Knapp on Washington Street, 
South Norwalk, and resolved them- 
selves into an association called the "South Norwalk 
Ladies' Patriotic Society," whose object was to aid and 
comfort our soldiers in camp and hospital, or if found 
wounded on the battlefield. Mrs. David R. Austin, 
wife of the Congregational pastor, drafted the constitu- 
tion and was chosen the first president of the society. 
The other officers, representing the various churches in 
South Norwalk were: ist Vice President, Mrs. John 
Scott ; 2nd Vice President, Mrs. Halsey ; Secretary, Mrs. 
Burr Knap]) ; Assistant Secretary, Miss E. G. Piatt ; 
Treasurer, Miss Mary Hill, and a board of twelve man- 
agers. In the following year Miss Harriet Aymar suc- 
ceeded Mrs. Austin as President, owing to the latter's 
ill health. Mrs. Dennis I'latt was Vice President; Miss 
Hill, Treasurer and Miss Piatt Secretary. During the 
last two years of the war Miss Aymar as President and 
Miss Piatt as Secretary and Treasurer conducted the so- 
ciety's affairs. 

The membership fee was twenty-five cents and the 
society soon became a numerous band. Contributions 
were received from others outside the society, not only 
of cash, but of fruits and jellies, wine, books, linen and 
other supplies. With the funds raised material was pur- 
chased for garments, patterns of which were furnished 
by the Sanitary Commission, and also hospital comforts 
needed for the soldiers. 

The early meetings of the Patriotic Society were 
held in private houses, but, after a time Ely's Hall on 
North Main Street, became the headquarters of the So- 
ciety, it being a central point and affording better accom- 
modations for the increased number of workers. Ely's 

206 



block was new then and Mr. Nathan Ely, not only gave 
the use of the hall for meetings of the Society, but also 
foi its entertainments to raise money. Soon after or- 
ganization the question of raising funds became a serious 
one and it was decided to give a concert, and it is amus- 
ing to recall the discussion which arose over the charge 
for tickets. The president thought twenty-five cents a 
fair price, but was opposed by nearly all the members, 
who said that to charge more than fifteen cents would 
mean failure. Finally the president asked to be given 
the decision in the matter, promising if the concert failed 
to yield to the fifteen cent rate for ever after. The con- 
cert was a great success. It was given before a crowded 
house, and went ofif beautifully, while the profits amount- 
ed to $90. Professor Merriam, who led the singing, had 
been promised one-fourth of the receipts, and when he 
received the money he remarked, "Why, Miss Aymar, 
I never had so much pay in my life." "Oh!" was the 
reply, "Your forte is music, not finance!" 

The concert was given on August 8, 1862, by the 
united chorus of the South Norwalk churches, assisted 
by other amateur singers, who gave their services. The 
programme was as follows: 

PART I. 

1. Overture to Martha. Slotare. Piano duet. 

Miss White and Slocum, 

2. Let Every Heart Rejoice and Sing, 

Choir. Accomp't, Mr. Disbrow. 

3. La Manola. Huison. 

Miss Sears, Accomp't, Miss Seymour. 

4. On to the Field of Glory. Duet. 

Messrs. Merriam and Fowler. 

5. The Lazy Man. Song. Mr. Nichols. 
6 I've a Home in the Woods. 

Messrs. Merriam, Fowler, Selleck and Craw. 

7. Eckert's Swiss Song. 

Miss Sears. Accomp't, Miss Seymour. 

8. Come, Let Us Sing a Merry Round. Choir. 

9. Marseilles Hymn. Solo. 

Mr. Merriam and Choir, Accomp't, Mr. Disbrow. 

807 



PART II. 

1. Lucia di Lammermoor, Orsler. Piano Duet. 

Misses Slocum and White. 

2. Hark! Apollo Strike the Lyre. Choir. 

3. Consider the Lilies. 

Miss Sears. Accomp't, Miss Hill. 

4. Rolling IFTome. Quartette. 

Messrs. Merriam, Fowler, Selleck and Craw. 

5. Vive rAmerica. 

i\lr. F. Lockwood. Accomp't, Miss Slocum. 

6. Robert toi qui j'aime. Meyerbeer. 

Miss Sears. Accomp't, Miss Hill. 

7. The American Flag. Solo. 

Mr. Merriam. Choir. Accomp't, Mr. Disbrow. 

8. A Man's a Man for All That. Song. Mr. Nichols. 

9. The Union Forever. Mr. Merriam. 
10. Grand Finale. The Star Spangled Banner. 

Choir and Audience. Accomp't, Mr. Disbrow. 

What a contrast with similar benefit entertainments 
to-day, in the theatres, halls and club rooms, were the 
simple entertainments of charades, tableaux, suppers and 
concerts in that primitive place, which were tne germs 
of the artistic and elegant entertainments of to-day. 

For a time the local Patriotic Society acted inde- 
pendently, sending supphes direct to special regiments. 
We copy from a report of the Secretary, January, 1864: 
"We have sent under the auspices of the Sanitary Com- 
mission, supplies to the nine Connecticut Regiments on 
the coast of Virginia and North Carolina, also to the 
17th Conn." Ultimately the society joined the ''Wo- 
man's Central Association of Relief" and became allied 
with the United States Sanitary Commission. A diplo- 
ma was awarded to our Patriotic Society at the close of 
the war from the "Woman's Central Relief Association," 
signed by the officers of that influential organization, ad- 
dressed to Miss Harriet Aymar, president. This diplo- 
ma is now in the possession of the Norwalk Historical 
and Memorial Library Association, together with other 
relics of the Patriotic Society. 

In closing this brief sketch of the Ladies' Patriotic 

SOS 



Society we add a short extract from the last report of Uie 
faithful and able secretary, Miss Piatt, for the year 1864: 
"The societv has never been more prosperous than 
during the past year; and we trust a spirit of patriotism 
is now aroused which will lead to renewed energy and 
efifort in the 'great good work,' until the peace so long 
desired shall bless our land, and our efforts in behalf of 
the soldiers shall no longer be needed." 

Accompanying the report is the following account 
from January 29, 1864, to January 25, 1865: 
Cash receipts from donations, weekly collec- 
tions and entertainments, . • • $675.90 



EXPENDITURES. 

Donations to the Christian Commission, 
Paid to Sanitary Commission for flannel, . 
Current expenses of the society, which include 

donations to various special objects, . 
Cash on hand, ..... 

Total, 

Add to this the sum of . 



$275.36 
215-53 

160.41 
42.60 



$693.90 
215-53 



Which sum was allowed on the goods purchas- 
ed of the Sanitary Commission and the 
total amount is $909- 43 

The number of articles made from 1861 to January, 
1865, was T,732. Boxes of supplies sent to the soldiers 
were valued at $341, and money was collected amounting 
to $1,350.37. 

The children of South Norwalk are credited with 
contributing $20 in money to the Patriotic Society and 
piecing two quilts for hospital use. 

The children were also very useful in preparing for 
entertainments. George Beard, aged twelve, was al- 
ways ready to assist in putting the hall in order, giving 
his services, as he said, ''For good company." The Pa- 
triotic Society had assistance from many sources, the 
cause being for the country in its struggle for entire free- 
dotn. No denominational lines were recognized but all 
did their part with "Liberty" as the watchword. So we 
did our mite in the holy war. 

To-day we are a united and prosperous nation and 
so we may remain if not overwhelmed by too much 



wealth and too much pride of success and luxury of liv- 
ing. The rise and fall of other nations should be to us 
an example and warning. It may add to the interest of 
this sketch to mention the names of some of the active 
members of the South Norwalk Ladies' Patriotic So- 
ciety: 

Mrs. D. R. Austin, Mrs. Scott, Mrs. Halsey, Mrs. 
B. Knapp, Miss Mary Hill, Miss Piatt, Mrs Beers, Mrs. 
A. Lyon, MissC. Hill, Mrs. A. J. Crofut, Mrs. H. L. 
Norton, Miss i\ Beers, Mrs. Jas. Mallory, Mrs. W. S. 
H:anford, Mrs. Edwin Hoyt, Mrs. Wood, Miss Isabella 
Beard. Mrs. Scoville, Miss Aymar, Mrs. Dennis Piatt, 
Mrs. I. Beers, Mrs. Nash, Miss E. Cape, Mrs. Baxter, 
Mrs. Alexander, Mrs. EHsha Comstock, Mrs. Dicker- 
man, Mrs. Nathan Ely, Miss Louisa Prouty, Mrs. John 
Bouton, Mrs. C. M. Lawrence, Mrs. Sarah Palmer, Miss 
Elizabeth Scoville, Miss Mary Hutchins, Mrs. New- 
combe, Miss A. Delia Dibble, Mrs. Wm. Beard, Mrs. 
Wm. Cape, the Misses Quintard, Mrs. Davis Hatch, 
Mrs. Sonthmayd, Miss Annie Seymour, Mrs. Burchard, 
Mrs. E. L. Bailey, Mrs. John H. Keyser, Mrs. James H. 
Knapp, Mrs. A. Thompson, Mrs. Minerva E. Raymond, 
Mrs. S. H. Orton, Miss Georgiana Bodwell, Mrs. Eben 
Hill, Miss Cornelia Benedict, Miss Gertrude Benedict, 
Miss Malvina Swords, Miss Mary E. Byxbee, Miss Mary 
A. Ferris, Mrs. Mary Palmer, Mrs. Burr Nash and 
others. 




810 



NORWALK CHAPTER, DAUGHTERS 
OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 




HIS organization was formed at the 
residence of Mrs. E. J. Hill, Decem- 
ber i6, 1896, in pursuance of a com- 
mission from the National Society of 
the Daughters of the American Revo- 
lution. Mrs. Hill was elected Regent, 
and during her term of office an in- 
teresting and extensive celebration ot 
the 244tb anniversary of the founding of Norwalk was 
held under the joint' auspices of the Norwalk Chapter 
and the Sons of the American Revolution. The pro- 
gramme included a two days' festival at the Armory, a 
gathering of 4,000 school children, a loan exhibition of 
Colonial and Revolutionary relics and a Colonial ball. 
The exhibition resulted in a fund of one hundred and 
Hfty dollars, which was voted by the General Committee 
to the Norwalk Chapter to aid in the erection of histori- 
cal memorials. Three rich memorials were placed in 
position by the Chapter in 1895, viz.: 

1. The Founders' Stone, on East avenue. 

2. The France street tablet. 

3. The Flax Hill memorial with the old British 
cannon ball imbedded in its surface. 

In November, 1895, Mrs. Hill was succeeded as 
Regent by Mrs. Thomas K. Noble, who held the office 
until November, 1897. During her term it was ordered 
by the Chapter that an annual prize of five dollars in 
gold be offered for the best essay upon a selected topic 
connected with the history of the American Revolution, 
written by a pupil of the Norwalk public schools. Early 
in 1896 a complimentary address was given to the local 
branch of the S. A. R., and Major General Darius N. 
Couch was the guest of honor. The work of identifying 
the graves of Revolutionary soldiers in the vicinity of 
Norwalk was begun and these graves have been visited 
regularly since 1896 and appropriately decorated upon 
Memorial Day. The membership of the Chapter in- 
creased during Mrs. Noble's term from forty-seven to 
one hundred and fifteen. 

The third Regent was Mrs. Samuel Richards Weed, 
who was electd in November, 1897. 

211 



The record of the patriotic work of the Chapter dur- 
ing the regency of Mrs. Weed is that of great activity 
and success. It comprises many addresses by distin- 
guished guests at Chapter meetings, drives to historical 
locaHties under the direction of Rev. C. M. Selleck, Nor- 
vvalk's historian, receptions at the Regent's summer 
home at "Midbrook,"' the completion of the list of iden- 
tified graves of Revolutionary Soldiers (begun in 1896), 
and the official marking of these graves with the assist- 
ance of the Connecticut S. A. R. 

The Norwalk Chapter responded to the call of the 
National Society of D. A. R. in the Spanish- American 
war, and nobly did their share in the work which the 
Connecticut D. A, R. accomplished. One hundred and 
twenty-six dollars were raised and seventy boxes of re- 
lief supplies and reading matter were sent to the soldiers 
at the front. 

In 189Q another wayside memorial was placed on 
Fitch's Point, the landing place of the British invaders 
in 1779. 

In September, 1899, the season was inaugurated 
with a "Nathan Hale" programme, at which time Mrs. 
Weed proposed the erection of a memorial to that hero 
in Norwalk, from whence he left the Connecticut shore 
for Long Island on his fatal errand. A design for a 
drinking fountain, to cost nine hundred dollars, was 
donated by McKim, Mead & White, of New York, and 
the Regent soon secured the necessary subscriptions for 
its completion, amounting in all to $1,106.09. The let- 
tering of one of the two inscriptions on the memorial 
was contril)uted by the children in the schools of Nor- 
walk. The fountain was dedicated on April 19, 1901, 
at the close of the State Conference of the D. A. R., 
which was held in Norwalk on that date. The speakers 
on the occasion were Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D. D., 
of Boston; Rev. S. Parkes Codman, D. D., of Brooklyn, 
and the Rev. C. M. Selleck. 

A series of historical papers on the old homes of 
Wilton, Westport, Darien and Norwalk were prepared 
at Mrs. Weed's request, illustrated with a collection of 
photographs, and published in a pamphlet to celebrate 
tlie 2'50th anniversary of Norwalk. 

Mrs. Weed's term of office expired in May, 1901, at 
which time the membership of the Chapter had increased 
to one hundred and fifty-nine. After an ineffectual bal- 
lot in May, the Chapter adjourned without an election. 

218 



In June, 1901, Mrs. Weed was re-elected Regent against 
her own wishes. 

Although no Chapter meetings were held during the 
summer, the "Regent was busy with plans for assisting in 
the celebration of Norwalk's 250th anniversary in Sep- 
tember. A plate, designed by Mrs. Weed, with appro- 
priate Nforwalk pictures, executed in blue and white por- 
celain, was produced at her own expense, as a souvenir 
of the anniversary. These plates were placed on sale, 
and it was announced that the final profits would be used 
for future memorial work. The committee in charge of 
the Norwalk celebration requested the Norwalk Chap- 
ter to conduct the guests of the town to places of historic 
interest on the morning of September nth, 1901. The 
Kegent proposed a trolley ride for the purpose, which 
was successfully carried out. Four cars, decorated with 
the national colors, took a large party of invited guests 
to places indicated on the proposed programme. Rev. 
C. M. vSelleck accompanied the party and acted as guide, 
relating interesting facts concerning the points visited. 
At the suggestion of the Regent, the Norwalk Chapter 
joined with the other women's clubs to open the Central 
Club house during the anniversary days, as a "House of 
Rest" and refreshment for out-of-town visitors. 

The Daughters of the American Revolution is 
thoroughly democratic in its membership, since any 
woman is eligible who is descended from a recognized 
patriot, a soldier, sailor, or a civil officer in the United 
Colonies or States, who assisted in establishing the 
cause of Independence during the War of the Revolu- 
tion. 

The real object of the society is to foster patriotism 
by encouraging the study of United States history and 
the Constitution and to preserve memorials of' local 
history and historical relics of every town in the land, 
thereby stimulating public pride and leading to public 
improvement in everv communitv. 



318 




AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 
EDUCATION IN NORWALK DURING 
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 



(By A. Blanchard.) 

OR WALK has a New England inheri- 
tance in matters of education. The 
vote at the town meeting, held May 
29, 1678, to hire a school master on 
"as reasonable terms as possible to 
teach all the childring in the towne to 
lerne to rede and write" was but fol- 
lowing the precedent of other Con- 
necticut towns, for this general instruction was in strict 
conformity to the laws of the colony. In 1686 the town 
voted to hire a school master for a quarter of a year at the 
rate of thirty pounds a year to be paid by the inhabitants 
of the town according to their lists of estate. The select- 
men had the hiring of the teacher, and were also 
instructed to "hire a house for that use and fit it with 
conveniences for schooling." In 1699 we come to some 
primitive ideas in school architecture, when the town 
votes to bitild a schoolhouse. The requirements are 
that the edifice shall be "in length twenty foot; the 
breadth then of eighteen foot and at least six foot be- 
tween joynts." In the following year, January, 1700, 
there is a record that deserves to be transcribed in full: 
"The town by a major vote determines to have two 
schools attended and kept for the year ensuing, one at ye 
south end of ye town and ye other at ye north end ; and 
ye two respective school houses now in being, in ye 
winter time. And ye summer school at ye south end 
and at ye school house on west side of the river. And 
ye countv m.oney shall be divided according to lyst of 
ye military lyne." In 1719 it was voted that the winter 
school should be kept half of the time at the old school- 
house and the other half at the new schoolhouse at the 
north end of the town. 

Such are the meager references to the public schools 
as gleaned from Hall's Ancient Historical Records of 
Norwalk. They form a fitting introduction to the sub- 
ject of this paper. The detailed history of the diflFerent 

214 



schools will naturally find a place in the papers devoted 
to the several districts and need not be repeated here ex- 
cept where necessary to a clear understanding of the his- 
tory of the town as a whole. The beginning of the 
century finds the public schools of Connecticut under 
the management of school societies. In 1795, 1798 and 
1799 laws were passed by which parishes and societies 
under this new name were invested with the entire con- 
trol of the schools to the exclusion of the towns which, 
as such, had nothing to do with school affairs. Our 
concern, then, is not with the town, but with the First 
School Society of Norwalk. A brief and incomplete 
record of this society is contained in the School Society's 
Committee's Book, which is preserved in the office of the 
town clerk. The record begins Tan. i, 1799, and the 
first financial entry in the book is a charge of $1.25 for 
the book itself Entries are made in this book down to 
1847, covering a period of forty-eight years, and these 
records are authority for some of the statements in the 
present paper. Stephen Lockwood, Taylor Sherman 
and Ebenezer Phillips were the first committee of the 
new society. Within its jurisdiction were the Poplar 
Plains, Saugatuck and Down Town school districts. In 
1810 the number had increased to five by the addition 
of the North East and Old Well districts to those already 
named. During the next thirty years, there was great 
deterioration in the public schools of Connecticut. In 
the last decade of this period their condition had become 
deplorable. A report on the Norwalk schools, published 
in the Connecticut Common School Journal for January 
and February, 1839, presents anything but a flattering 
picture of the educational advantages offered to the 
children of the town by the public schools sixty years 
ago. The schools figuring in this report were those in 
the Old Well, Flax Hill, South Center, North Center, 
Down Town, Pudding Lane, North West, Over River 
and North East districts. The best that can be said 
about this exposure is that the conditions here were 
similar to those which obtained in the state at large and 
that other towns were as remiss as Norwalk. The re- 
port takes up the districts one by one and goes into the 
details of enumeration, school attendance, location and 
condition of school buildings, school grounds, studies 
pursued and the text books in use. Schoolhouses were 
usually built close upon the public highways in uni- 
formly unattractive places. A plot of ground unfit for 

216 



anything else was good enough for a school. Of the 
people of one district the report says: "Those who pos- 
sess or control suitable lands for locating a schoolhouse 
will neither sell them nor suffer a building to stand on 
the highway opposite." The schoolhouses, with few 
exceptions, were poor specimens of architecture and 
construction. Referring to one building with two 
rooms, the language of the report is: "A school is kept 
overhead, and the lowness and indistinctness of the 
voices which was witnessed, is believed to be owing in 
part certainly, to the usage of keeping the voices of the 
pupils suppressed in order that the schools may not hin- 
der each other.'' School rooms were poorly furnished. 
There was multiplicity instead of uniformity in text 
books. Twenty-one different reading books were in use 
in the schools of the town. An equal diversity of books 
was found in other branches of study. A point not 
noticed by the report, but a very noticeable one, is the 
entire neglect of the higher studies. In the gloom and 
discouragement of this picture of the public schools two 
generations ago appears one ray of light. The writer 
takes occasion to say a good word for the teachers, pro- 
nouncing them "unusually well qualified, but hindered 
in their work through the carelessness, or wilfulness of 
parents and masters." It is not surprising that the pub- 
lic schools were in ill repute and poorly attended. In 
1838, out of 941 children of school age, only 319 were 
in common schools, "leaving," as the report says, "622 
or n'^arly two-thirds of the whole, without benefit from 
the public money." The total expenses of the schools 
amounted to about $3,500, or eleven dollars for each 
registered pupil. Considering the value of money in 
those days, the poor schools cost enough to have been 
much better than they were. The taxpayer of that time 
was not especially interested, for little of his money went 
to pay the expenses of the public schools. 

The period we have been considering was Ioav water 
mark for the public schools of Connecticut. This con- 
dition was no sudden lapse, but in its origin dates back 
to the beginning of the century, and even earlier. The 
legislation, already referred to, which transferred the 
control of the schools from the town to school societies, 
proved iniurious rather than helpful to the cause of popu- 
lar education. There was a decline of interest in the 
public schools, for which the large school fund of the 
state was doubtless in great measure responsible. The 

216 




tendency was to lessen school expenses and bring them 
within the public funds and, as far as possible, escape 
taxation. With only 319 children in the public schools 
of the Q41 enumerated in Norwalk, what educational 
advantaj^es were offered to the 622 who were "without 
benefit from the public money"? In the absence of strin- 
gent truant laws, many children must have grown up 
with very meager schooling. Parents who were anxious 
that their children should have an education and who 
realized the serious deficiencies of the common schools, 
had a resource, if their means permitted, in patronizing 
private schools. These institutions now sprang up and 
flourished, as never before or since. The records of such 
schools, from the nature of things, are rarely preserved, 
so that data concerning them are very difficult to obtain. 
Elem.entary schools were established, flourished and 
passed away, leaving no visible traces that they had ever 
existed. The records of schools for more advanced 
scholars are also lacking, but we find occasional allusions 
to them in books and the public prints, increasing in 
frequency as we come down towards the middle of the 
century, when these slight sources of information are 
supplemented by the recollection of persons still living. 
Timothy Dwight, then ex-President of Yale, in his 
travels in New England and New York, published in 
1822, referring to Norwalk, says that an academy was 
established there som.e years ago, but was afterwards 
given up. An academ.y, which stood on "The Green" 
m Norwalk, and belonged to the First Congregational 
church, flourished for a time, having for its principal 
Prof. Hav/ley Olmstead and Edwin Hall, afterwards 
pastor of the church. An Episcopal academy was con- 
ducted after the date of Dr. D wight's book and was dis- 
continued about 1829. Such are the meager details of 
these earlier schools, as the writer has had an oppor- 
tunity to gather them. 

A school about which more data are obtainable is 
the South Norwalk Academy, later known as the Nor- 
Vv-alk Academy, the change in name showing an evident 
desire to have it recognized as a town institution. An 
advertisement dated Nov. 5, 1844, states that arrange- 
ments had been made "to convey students in a covered 
carriage from Norwalk borough to the academy for two 
cents each time, amounting to one shilling a week. This 
academy was a private enterprise undertaken by citizens 
of the town, who elected trustees from among their own 

sir 



number. In a newspaper announcement in February, 
1S44, appear the names of Algernon E. Beard, Charles 
Mallory and Thomas C. Hanford as the governing board 
at that time. The building erected was a one-story 
structure with a cupola, after the common academy 
architecture of the period, and stood on West avenue, 
nearly opposite the site of the Methodist Episcopal 
church in South Norwalk. At first designed for boys, 
girls were afterwards admitted to the school. One of 
the earlier principals was Mr, Store's Hall, brother of 
Dr. Edward Hall, who made a compilation of the early 
records of Norwalk. In 1844 James H. Coffin came 
from a tutorship in Williams College to become the head 
of the new academy. Under his management and that 
of his brother and successor, Robert Coffin, the academy 
gained great repute and drew students from the sur- 
rounding towns. The service of Prof. James H. Coffin 
is a verv notable part of the educational history of the 
town. He was called from his duties here to a profes- 
sorship in Lafayette College, where he gained a national 
and European reputation by his teaching ability and his 
works on meteorology and mathematics. His series of 
text books in mathematics were used for a long time in 
the leading colleges. The academy continued its hon- 
orable and useful career imtil the early fifties, when im- 
orovements in the public school system rendered its 
existence no longer necessary. 

Hart's report in the Connecticut Common School 
Journal on the schools of Norwalk was part of a move- 
ment to improve the common schools of the state. The 
need of reform was very graphically shown and the work 
of bettering educational conditions was carried on with 
unfailing intelligence and persistence. In the educa- 
tional history of the period looms up the great figure of 
Henry Barnard, who' ranks with Horace Mann as one 
of the two foremost of American educators. In 1837 ^^^ 
state created a Board of Commissioners of Common 
Schools Mr. Barnard was chosen secretary of this 
board, which in effect made him state superintendent of 
common schools. Tliorough state and local supervision 
took the place of the chaos that had preceded. The im- 
press of Mr. Barnard's work is to be seen in the public 
school system of to-day. From 1838, the date of Mr. 
Hart's report, to 1853, we find an increase in the school 
population of Norwalk. The enumeration by districts 
as it appears in the state report of 1853, is as follows: 

218 



Flax Hill 


71 


Old Well 


253 


North West . 


40 


Down Town . 


117 


North Center . 


125 


Union 


563 


North East 


47 


Total 


1,216 



Closely following the date of this report are to be 
noted two events which mark a distinct improvement 
in the public schools of the town since the time when 
Mr. Barnard's agent held them up to such severe cen- 
sure. One is a piece of special legislation enacted in 
1854 authorizing the Union School District of Norwalk 
to lix a rate of tuition for the study of the French, Latin 
and Greek languages. The Union District was at that 
lime very much the largest school district in town, con- 
taining nearlv half the school population. The other 
event was the consolidation, in 1854, of the Old Well 
and Flax Hill districts into the South Norwalk Union 
School District. In the new school which was the re- 
sult of this union the study of the higher branches was 
at once taken up. Under these circumstances the Nor- 
walk Academy, which had done effective service in the 
cause of the higher education, was discontinued, and its 
work was carried on in the schools of the two larger dis- 
tricts. Two years later, in 1856, an important general 
state law was enacted which abolished all school societies 
and gave back to the towns their control over the 
schools. In this way jurisdiction over the several 
districts of the First School Society passed to the 
town of Norwalk. In addition to these districts, the 
town assumed control of the South, Middle and North 
Five Mile River districts, which had formed part of the 
Darien School Society. Nine districts were thus placed 
under the control of the town in 1856. Their names and 
the enumeration in each district are given in the state 
report of that year as follows: 



Union . 
South Union 
Down Town 
North Center 
North East 



625 

433 

125 

77 

45 



219 



North West ..... 41 

North Five Mile River . . .58 

Middle Five Mile River ... 63 

South I'lve Mile River ... 66 



Total . . . . . 1,533 

In i860 the Broad River district was formed, com- 
l^rising territory formerly a part of the Union district. 
The Center district was formed in the following year. 
In each of the districts just named a new schoolhouse 
was built. These eleven districts, as far as their boun- 
daries are concerned, were very much as we know them 
at the present time. A twelfth district, whose existence 
even is known to very few, claims a passing reference. 
In 1859, by special act of legislature, Norwalk, or Shef- 
field Island was constituted a separate school district 
"with all the privileges and immimities belonging to the 
other school districts of this state," and apparently is still 
a legal part of the district system of the town. 

As the legislative acts at the close of the eighteenth 
century in taking away the powers of the towns over 
schools had had a depressing effect, so the restoration 
of those powers after the lapse of a little more than fifty 
years wrought a change for the better. The town as an 
educational unit has shown its superiority over the parish 
or school society. The schools have become more a 
matter of public concern and local pride. In the last 
forty years they have grown with the growth of the town. 
New schoolhouses have been built and old ones enlarged 
and remodelled. In all these changes and additions 
there has been a notable advance in school architecture; 
in school furnishings and school surroundings. The 
comfort, health and general well-being of the pupils 
have received more and more consideration in the 
location, planning, construction and equipment of school 
buildings. The details of this progress will be found in 
the sketches of the different districts, but a reference, at 
least, to the general fact seemed called for in this place. 

An institution which has been a very important edu- 
cational factor in the town for the past twenty years is 
St. Mary's Parochial School, which was established in 
1880. The present principal is Rev. W. Kieman, and 
his predecessors were Revs. J. Russell, H. Treanor, T. 
Crowley, T. O'Brien, J. Dug'gan, J. Sullivan, M. Barry 
and J. Loftus. Ten teachers are employed and five hun- 

226 



dred pupils are connected with the school. The courses 
of study range from the kindergarten to the high school 
course. Drawing and vocal music are taught and a 
commercial course is given in the last year. "This 
school has sent forth into the world hundreds of young 
men and women who are devoted children of the Church 
and loyal citizens of the State." 

No sketch of the educational history of the town 
should omit to mention the private schools of the latter 
part of the century. We have already seen how im- 
portant they were at an earlier period. With the great 
improvement in the public schools, private elementary 
instruction is no longer given to any extent. There has 
always remained, however, a number of excellent private 
schools engaged for the most part in the work of higher 
education. Among these the first place must be given 
to the Selleck School for Boys, established in 1855 ^^y 
Rev. C. M. Selleck, the historian of Norwalk. The 
school began with about twenty scholars in a small 
building erected for the purpose. This was soon out- 
grown, and successive additions were made to the 
original building as the school increased in numbers. 
The school was almost exclusively a boarding institution 
and for several years averaged nearly one hundred 
boarding pupils. Its patronage came from all sections 
of the country and even from abroad. For many years 
the work was carried on by the principal and six assist- 
ants, and the courses covered the usual studies pursued 
m such institutions. Boys were fitted for Yale, Har- 
vard and Princeton and also for West Point and the 
United States NavaJ Academy. A commercial depart- 
ment was a prominent feature in the courses of study. 
I'he school enjoyed a wide reputation and was success- 
iully conducted by Mr. Selleck until 1889, a period of 
thirty-four years. A very appreciative and corhplimen- 
tary notice of this school by Dr. Edward L Sears ap- 
peared in the National Quarterly Review for March. 
1875. Dr. Sears' closing words are: "We cannot, there- 
fore, conclude these hurried observations more appro- 
priately than by applying to Mr. Selleck's school the line 
of Plantus: 

'Sat habet favitorum semper, qui recte facit.' " 

After Mr. Selleck severed his connection with the 
school it was conducted on somewhat different lines by 

221 



Col. Roberts and known as the Norwalk Military Insti- 
tute. As the Norwalk University School it is now under 
the management of Mr. William G. Chase, a thoroughly 
modern boarding and day school for boys, with two col- 
lege preparatory and two finishing courses. Mr. Chase 
took charge of the school in 1897. Three assistants are 
associated with him in the work of instruction and thirty- 
two pupils are in attendance. Although not a military 
school, the boys are fully uniformed and equipped and 
thoroughly drilled in military exercises. 

Mention should also be made of the school for boys 
conducted by Dr. Jabez C. Fitch in the building now 
occupied by Mrs. Mead's seminary for girls and young 
ladies. This school flourished for a number of years and 
had a high reputation. 

Prof. Alexander Johnston was for several years, 
and until 1883, principal of the Norwalk Latin School in 
the building now used as the Grace Church rectory. 
Prof. Johnston was at that time well known as the author 
of a history of American Politics and as one of the 
principal contributors to Labor's Cyclopaedia of Politi- 
cal .Science, Political Economy and United States His- 
tory. Prof. Johnston was called from this school to a 
professorship in Princeton University, where he gained 
a national and European reputation by his scholarly and 
brilliant historical writing. 

Mr. James Benedict conducted a boys' school for 
several years during the sixties on Bay View avenue, 
South Norwalk, occupying the place now owned by 
Mrs. Mary J. Couch. Besides the present dwelling 
house a building on the same premises was used for 
school purposes, serving as a class room. 

Mr. John Osborn, formerly principal of the Church 
Hall School, New Canaan, had a fine boarding school on 
Strawberry Hill, and deserves high mention. His pupils 
were mostly from New York city. Miss Louise A. 
Smith also maintained for several years a young ladies' 
seminary of repute and merit. 

Miss Helen M. B. Stevens established the Home 
Lawn School for Young Ladies in 1872 in the house 
now occupied by W F, Bishop, 15 Belden avenue. The 
school was conducted in this and other locations until 
it was discontinued in 1885. Miss Stevens had the as- 
sistance of from three to five teachers and instruction 
was given to an average of about thirty pupils. Diplomas 
were awarded on the completion of a four years' course, 



which included languages and the higher studies. Work 
of a more elementary character was also carried on. 

Mrs. White conducted a school for young ladies on 
West avenue, on the place now occupied by the residence 
of Dr. W. J. Tracey. This school flourished in the years 
following the war, and enjoyed a very high reputation. 
The Misses Brockway's Select School for Young 
Ladies and Children was established in 1869 and con- 
tinued until the close of the school year in June, 1882 
Miss Mary Adelaide Brockway was principal and six or 
seven teachers were usually employed. There was an 
average attendance of about thirty pupils. A four years' 
course, embracing algebra, geometry, languages, com- 
position and literature, fitted graduates to enter college. 
Special attention was given to history and several 
branches of natural science ; also, to drawing, elocution 
and music and other studies usually pursued in such a 
school. 

The subject of the private schools of the past, even 
those which have been maintained during the last fifty 
years, has been an extremely difficult one to treat with 
any degree of satisfaction. Information has not been 
easy to obtain and verify. Much time and effort have 
been spent in gathering what is here presented, and the 
period for the preparation of this paper has been neces- 
sarily limited. The writer can only hope that there have 
not been many serious omissions and that the narration 
will be found correct as far as it goes. 

An account of the private schools of Norwalk will 
fittingly close with a reference to those in existence at the 
present time. It is to be truthfully said that they main- 
tain their earlier reputation for fidelity to sound edu- 
cational principles and for able and successful manage- 
ment. 

Miss Baird's Home School for Girls, located at the 
cornel of West Avenue and Orchard Street, was estab- 
lished in 1871 and has continued under the management 
of its present principal. Miss Cornelia F. Baird, from the 
beginning This school has been a growing institution 
and now numbers between fifty and sixty pupils and 
eleven teachers in the several departments.' Studies are 
pursued in primary, intermediate and post graduate 
courses. ''Graduates are prepared for college or society, 
possessing disf^iplined minds and bodies, carefully form- 
ed manners and self control." There are regular and 
special courses in art and in music, both vocal and in- 

S23 



strumental, including piano, violin, harp, mandolin, etc. 
Another meritorious institution is Mrs. Melville E. 
Mead's School for Girls and Young Ladies. This school 
was founded in Darien in 1883 and moved to Norwalk 
in 1889. It has a faculty of eleven teachers and has gain- 
ed a high and wide reputation for scholarly work. The 
aim of the school is summed up in the sentence "to foster 
the growth of an earnest, helpful and unselfish woman- 
hood." There is a primary department and more ad- 
vanced courses preparing for the colleges ; also, a gen- 
eral course for students who do not intend to enter col- 
lege. Special courses in music and art are offered to 
those who wish to pursue the study of those branches. 

Prof. Carl A. Harstrom, A. 'M., Ph. D., writes to 
the author of this paper that he "is not conducting a 
school and therefore it can not have a name." With 
four assistants he does private tutoring for Yale, Har- 
vard an.i Princeton, the number of pupils ranging during 
the year from six or eight up to twenty. Prof. Harstrom 
has charge of this larger number during the summer 
time when boys are preparing for the fall college examin- 
ations. 

The Norwalk University school under the manage- 
ment of Mr. William G. Chase, has already been referred 
to as a continuation of the institution founded by the 
Rev. C. M. Selleck. 

The great expansion of commercial opportunities 
and of the commercial spirit in recent years and the 
numerous consequent changes and improvements in 
business methods have brought about a corresponding 
demand for persons specially trained to meet the exac- 
tions forced upon the business world by the new condi- 
tions. The number of commercial schools has greatly 
multiplied until one or more of these institutions is now 
to be found in every considerable city or town. Their 
existence and generally flourishing condition are evi- 
dence that they supply a real need. Brown's Business 
College in South Norwalk was opened for instruction 
m September, 1S97. The number of pupils in the 
school year has grown from 97 to 159. Mr. I. S. Brown 
was the first principal. Associated with him from the 
beginning was Mr. G. E. Sartain, who in November, 
1900, purchased the interest of Mr. Brown and has since 
had the management of the school. It is now organized 
with five departments, English, commercial, shorthand, 
telegraphy and typewriting. Day and evening sessions 

S34 



are held and 134 young men and women have been grad- 
uated from the different courses. It has convenient 
rooms in the United Bank Building and in equipment 
and grade of its instruction ranks with the best schools 
of its class, 

Nc sketch of the educational interests of the town, 
however brief, can omit a reference to the public librar- 
ies. There are two of these institutions, one in each 
of the cities of Norwalk and South Norwalk. These 
libraries are not maintained and managed by the town, 
but by the two cities, and in each instance for the benefit 
of its own citizens. A detailed history of the Norwalk 
and the South Norwalk public libraries, as well as other 
information, will appear in papers prepared by the librar- 
ians. 

To complete this paper it remains to take a passing 
glance at the condition of Norwalk's public schools at 
the end of two hundred and fifty years. We have seen 
that im.provements have been contemporaneous and to 
a certain degree commensurate with attention to the 
higher education. There is, unfortunately, no central 
town high school, but by a sort of natural evolution, a 
high school department has grown up in each of the 
schools of the four larger districts, South Norwalk, 
Over River, Center and East Norwalk, with well arrang- 
ed courses of study. Students have been graduated, who 
have taken the normal school course as a further prepar- 
ation for teaching, in this way justifying the expenditure 
of the public money on high school instruction in con- 
sideration of its direct benefit to the schools as a whole. 
Othe: graduates have gone into various walks of life 
with the advantage of high school training. Still others 
have been fitted to pursue courses of study in colleges 
and technical schools. While recognizing the excellent 
results of the work of these four high school departments, 
it should be said that there yet remains in the direction 
of progress the logical step of consolidating these four 
departments into one central high school. 

Ihe contrast between the public schools of to-day 
and those of the first part of the nineteenth century, is a 
wide one. During the earlier period these schools were 
supported chiefiy from the income of public funds and 
tuition rates. Public taxation was avoided. The pur- 
chase of school books was felt as a burden and children 
used the books that could be most easily procured, no 
matter what the consequences to system and uniformity 

838 



in the work of the school. We have already seen that 
the schools were very poorly attended, nearly two-thirds 
of the children of Norwalk being without benefit from 
the public monev. The benefit of special training for 
teachers did not liegin to be felt until after the establish- 
ment of the normal school at New Britain in 1850. Grad- 
ed courses of instruction in the schools of the town were 
the development of a still later period when they were a 
necessary growth in the larger schools. 

At the' present time the public schools are really free. 
Tuition rates were abolished by legislation in 1868. In 
the very closing year of the century, October, 1900, the 
town voted to furnish text books and supplies free for 
the use of all scholars. Following this vote a revised 
list of text books was authorized by the board of school 
visitors at a meeting in December of the same year. The 
schools are now maintained for the larger part by public 
taxation and not by the income of public funds. During 
the school vear ending July 14, 1901, $10,569.37 was re- 
ceived from the state and local funds for the support of 
schools but the sum of $54,215.84 came from town and 
district taxation. Children are not suffered to grow up 
without school advantages. In October, 1900, there 
were 4,483 children of school age, of whom 636 were re- 
ported not in school. Of this number not in school 448 
were under seven years of age and 159 were over four- 
teen. There were 3,876 children between the ages of 
seven and fourteen and of this number only 29 were out 
of school and these for sufficient reasons. Of the chil- 
dren of school age reported in school, 3,319 were in the 
public schools, 485 in St. Mary's Parochial School, and 
46 in private schools. An evening school for persons 
over fourteen years of age has been maintained at each 
end of the town since its establishment in 1893. Last 
year the registration in this school amounted tO' 144 and 
the school was continued for y$ sessions. The work is 
chief! V elementary find to a large extent among foreign- 
ers anxious to learn the English language. There have, 
however, been at times large classes in bookkeeping and 
commercial branches and in mechanical drawing. A 
graded course of study extending to the high school, and 
applicable to all the schools in town, was adopted by the 
town school board April 17, 1900, and uniform courses 
of study for the high school department are in prepara- 
tion. The closing year of the century has thus witness- 
ed important and marked changes and improvements in 



the educational system of the town. It is a great satis- 
faction to end this paper with a chronicle of achievement 
so full 01 promise for the future. 



LIST OF OFFICERS OF THE SOUTH NOR- 

WALK UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT, 

1854-1901. 

DISTRICT COMMITTEES: 

Bur Nash, 1854-1855, 1857-1859. 
William T. Craw, 1854- 185 5, 1856- 1858. 
Fbenezer Hill, 1854-1857, 1860-1869. 
Wilham O. Beard, 1855-1856. 
Hezekiah Raymond, 1855-1856, 1859-1862. 
John H. Smith, 1856-1857. 
\. Dickerman, 1857-1860. 

Moses B. Pardee, 1S5S-1861, 1864-1865, 1871-1873, 
1874-1875. 

Davis Hatch, 1S61-1864. 

Dudley P. Ely, 1862-1864, 1871-1872. 

lames' H. Knapp, 1866-1870. 

W. S. Hanford, 1865-1866. 

H. H. Elwell, 1864-1870, 1875-1877. 

Lewis F. Beers, 1869- 1870. 

E. A. Woodward, 1870-1871. 

J. J. Millard, 1870-1871, 1874-1875. 

S. C. Palmer, 1870-1872. 

R. H. Rowan, 1872-1873. 

Edwin Adams, 1872-1875, 1878-1880. 

A. J. Crofut, 1873-1874, 1875- 1877. 

Talmadge Baker, 1873-1874. 

A. ]. Thompson, 1874-1875. 

Charles F. Hallock, 1875-1878. 

William T. Comstock, 1877-1878. 

Thomas I. Raymond, 1877-1879, 1880-1885. 

Jacob M. Layton, 1878-1881. 

George W Dav, 1880-1884. 

Tohn A. Slater,' 1881- 1885. 

George W. Carroll, 1885- 1886. 

f. A. Farrington, 1885-1886. 

Robert Pearson, 1885-1886. 

Walter C. Quintard, 1886- 1887. 

Franklin A. Smith, 1886- 1887. 

m 



Richard H. Golden, 1888-1891. 

Abiathar Blanchard, 1886. Still in office. 

Matthew Corbett, 1887. Still in office. 

John H. Light, 1887- 1888 1891. Still in office. 

DISTRICT CLERKS. 

Matthew Wilcox, 1854-1860. 

WiUiam H. Benedict, 1860-1882. 

John W. Scott, 1882- 1885. 

David R. Selleck, 1885- 1886. 

Nelson Dickerman, 1886. Still in office. 

DISTRICT TREASURERS. 

William H. Benedict, 1854-1858. 
Frank H. Nash, 1858- 1861. 
Chester F. Tolles, 1862-1873. 
James A. Brown, 1873- 1881. 
George C. Stillson, 1881-1882. 
Jacob M. Layton, 1882. Still in office. 

DISTRICT COLLECTORS. 

Daniel F. Benedict, 1854-1859. 

Matthew Wilcox, 1859-1862. 

Frederick S. Lyon, 1862-1863, 1864-1871. 

Lorenzo Dibble, 1863-1864. 

Nelson J. Craw, 1871-1873. 

William's Bouton, 1873-1880. 

Franklin A. Tolles, 1880. Still in office. 

DISTRICT AUDITORS. 

Thomas I. Raymond, 1876-1878. 

Lorenzo Dibble, 1878- 1885. 

A. J. CrofiU, 1885-1886. 

F>anklin A. Smith, 1886-1887. 

John W. Dake, 1887. Still in office. 

BUILDING COMMITTEES. 

Original building at F>anklin St., 1854. 
Burr Nash. 
William T. Craw. 
Ebenezer Hill. 



Original building at Concord St., 1870. 

E. A. Woodward. 

William T. Craw. 

Charles R. Townsend. 

Andrew J Crofut. 

John H. Smith. 

Addition at Franklin St., 1873. 
Edwin Adams. 
S. C. Palmer. 
C. W. Knudsen. 

Addition at Concord St., 1886. 
Edwin Adams. 
Thomas I. Raymond. 
John A. Slater. 
Walter C. Ouintard. 
Abiathar Blanchard. 
Franklin A. Smith. 

Addition at Franklin St., 1897. 
Abiathar Blanchard. 
John H. Light. 
iVlatthew Corbett. 




•30 




THE SOUTH NORWALK 
UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT 

HE genesis of the South Norwalk 
Union School District is to be found 
in the consoHdation of the Old Well 
and Flax Hill districts in 1854. These 
two districts had been in existence 
since eariy in the century, as is shown 
by the record book of the First School 
Society of Norwalk. The districts 
themselves have left no records as far as the writer of 
ihis paper has been able to ascertain. Fortunately the 
records of the consolidated district are full and complete 
from the beginning. In answer to a petition from Mat- 
thew Wilcox and others presented to the First School 
Society in December, 1853, a meeting of the society was 
held in the following January and a vote was passed that 
tlie Old Well and tlax Hill districts be consolidated into 
one under the name of the South Norwalk Union School 
District. This action was confirmed by the legislature 
in the May session of 1855. Before the end of the month 
a school meeting of the new district was held and the 
following officers chosen : Matthew Wilcox, clerk ; Burr 
Nash VVilliam T. Craw and Ebenezer Hill, committee ; 
William H. Benedict, treasurer, and Daniel F. Benedict, 
collector. The school houses in the two districts were 
a one room building on Flax Hill, near the junction of 
West and Lowe Streets, and a two room building near 
the site of the newly erected soldiers' monument. At 
the time of the consolidation there were 324 children of 
school age within the district boundaries. Immediate 
steps were taken to erect a new school house. One acre 
of land was purchased of Mr. Algernon E. Beard for 
$1075, and a five room building was constructed in the 
course of the following summer. These rooms still re- 
main a part of the present Franklin building consisting 
of the two rear basement rooms, the two rooms on the 
floor above and a large room on the third floor. In 
front of these rooms were hall and stair ways and a 
suitable entrance to such a structure. The new school- 
house was of wood, but the district had voted that ''the 
building be filled in with brick, as a contractor found to 
his cost when a change was made in the location of the 



v/indows forty-three years later. Mr. E. J. Peck was 
the first principal. Instruction in the higher branches 
was undertaken from the first and the opening of the 
new school was in many ways a notable event. Mr. 
Peck held the position for four or five years and was 
succeeded by iVIr. Bradley for a short term. The next 
choice of principal was made in school meeting, April 
13, i860, v/hen Mr. William T. Comfort was elected to 
that position by ballot, with the provision that the sal- 
ary should not exceed $800. This choice does not seem 
to have been a fortunate one, for early in September of 
the same year the district records show that a committee 
was appointed to investigate his conduct in relation to 
the school. In March, 1861, he was relieved from his 
duties and Mr. F. S. Lyon was appointed in his place, a 
position which he held until 1873. Mr. Lyon was a 
strong disciplinarian and a thorough teacher. Still liv- 
ing here in honored retirement, he is well remembered 
and highly esteemed by many who profited by his in- 
struction a generation ago. Up to 1868, when they were 
abolished by law, the schools were supported in part by 
tuition rates. A schedule adopted January 24, 1859, 
reads as follows: 

First Primary, .... 

Second Primary, 

Intermediate, 

Grammar, .... 

SENIOR DEPARTMENT 

High School, ... 
Out of district scholars. 

The schedules were changed from time to time as 
occasion required. 

In 18156 the number of scholars enumerated in the 
district was 433. In 1870 the number had grown to 758 
and it became necessary to provide more school rooms. 
This was done by the erection in Concord street of a 
three-room building, comprising the two cloak rooms of 
the present building and a larger room on the floor 
above. The building was completed in season for the 
opening of the school in the fall of 1871 and cost a little 
less than $10,000. Still there was not school room 
enough, and in 1873 an addition was made to the Frank- 

231 



.90 for 


12 


weeks 


1. 00 " 


" 


■' 


1.25 " 
1.50 " 

"NT 


It 




^iN 1 . 

4.00 " 
5.00 " 


li 


<< 



Hn Street schoolhouse, changing it from a five to a nine, 
and, later, to a ten-room building with a large assembly 
hall still in use. The reported cost of the building was 
$17,715. With the opening of the building began the 
incumbency of Mr. Samuel T. Button, who continued 
in charge of the schools of the district until he resigned 
in the spring of 1877 to accept the principalship of the 
Eaton School in New Haven. Mr. Button's service in 
the South Norwalk schools was a notable one. He has 
since gained additional distinction in other and wider 
fields and is now recognized as one of the foremost edu- 
cators in the countrv. Mr. Button was succeeded by his 
brother, Mr. Silas B. Button, who^ conducted the school 
successfully until shortly before his lamented death in 
March, 1879, having been compelled on account of poor 
health to ask for leave of absence the January previous. 
Mr. Frederick Seymour, a student in Yale, acted as 
principal for the remainder of the school year. Mr. 
Henry M. Walradt was next appointed to the place, 
which he filled acceptably until he resigned in the spring 
of 1884 to take charge of another school. Mr. Herbert 
S. Brown, then a recent graduate of Yale, and now pas- 
tor of the Congregational Church in Barien, served with 
ability as principal until the end of the school year. 

Mr. Edward S. Hall became principal of the South 
Norwalk schools in September, 1884, a position which 
he held for four years and for which he had many qtjalifi- 
cations. Buring his incumbency the schoolhouse at Con- 
cord street was enlarged from three to eight rooms and 
otherwise greatly improved at a cost of about $12,000. 
This work was completed in the fall of 1886. Subse- 
quently other improvements were made which placed the 
building and premises in a proper sanitary condition. 
At the time this building was completed the enumeration 
of the children of the district had risen to 1,086. 

In 1888 Mr. William C. Foote assumed the duties 
of principal, which he has discharged with signal success 
down to the present time, a period of thirteen years. 
Buring <-his time the school population of the district 
has continued to grow. Within a few years after the 
completion of the building at Concord street school, ac- 
commodations again became insufficient. The erection 
of another building was for a long time delayed through 
the failure of the voters of the district to agree upon a 
location. Meanwhile one room after another was hired 
until during the school year of 1896-1897 three rooms 



in the Knudsen building, two rooms in Mr. Solman's 
hnt factory and Arion Hall, six rooms in all, were used 
for school purposes. It was finally voted to build a 
brick addition at Franklin street and to remodel the 
whole building-. The sum of $37,000 was appropriated 
for that purpose. Mr. Warren R. Briggs, an architect 
of high reputation, furnished the plans, and the result 
is a building greatly in advance of anything before un- 
dertaken in the town, and in line with the best work any- 
where. The district now possesses a magnificent school- 
house, intelligently planned and thoroughly equipped for 
school work and embodying the latest ideas for the health 
and comfort of its occupants. It has set a standard 
which public sentiment will hardly suffer school officials 
to fall below in any future enterprises of the kind. 

In les? than fifty years the school population of the 
district has grown from 324 to upwards of 1,700. In the 
place of three teachers there are now thirty-five. The 
two school buildings, with their twenty-six class rooms 
are full to overflowing. Already accommodations have 
had to be sought outside and the Knudsen building is 
occupied by a large kindergarten and one of the higher 
grades. It will soon be necessary to repeat the experi- 
ence of former years and plan for a new schoolhouse. 

A. BLANCHARD. 

November 8, igoi. 




THE S 
UNION 



PRINGWOOD 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL 




HE Springwood Union Sunday school 
was started in June, 1869, for the ac- 
commodation of the children in that 
vicinity. Mr. A. B. Snowden con- 
verted a barn opposite his own resi- 
dence into a school room and his 
daughter, Miss Susan Snowden, in- 
vited Mr. Charles M. Lawrence to 
take charge of the school; this he consented to do 
for six months and he has remained its superin- 
tendent for thirty-two years. The school was non- 
denominational and it began with a membership of 
forty-eight but in a few years the attendance was 
doubled. The hour of meeting was 3 o'clock on Sun- 
day. ■v\'ith prayer meeting on Sunday and Wednesday 
evenings for the adult population of Springwood. 
Neighborhood prayer meetings were also held at various 
times at private houses in "the Hollow," now called Lex- 
ington avenue, and on Woodward avenue. A great deal 
of charitable visiting and relief work accompanied these 
services by the officers of Springwood Chapel ; the su- 
perintendent, especially, devoted himself to this mission 
work. 

In 1876 and T877 series of revival meetings were 
held, and many persons were converted who joined the 
various churches in South Norwalk. 

In 1882 twenty-four persons W'Cre converted during 
six weeks' nightly services led by Mr. Lawrence. In 
1883 the lease of the Snowden property having expired 
it was decided to build a new chapel. It was completed 
in i88q at a cost of $2,001.67 for the lot and building, 
which were situated a short distance below the old chapel 
on Ely avenue. 

In 180T, the evening prayer meetings were discon- 
tinued after twenty years' observance of the custom, 
owing to a diminished attendance. This was due to the 
change in the character of the population of Springwood, 
most of the English-speaking residents having removed 
and a large foreign-born element taking their place who 
were chiefly Hungarians and Italians, most of whom 
were Roman Catholics. The Sunday school still pros- 

234 



pers and does o-ood work among the children of Spring- 
wood. 

The present officers of the school are: Charles M. 
Lawrence, superintendent; Edward S. Merriam, secre- 
tary, and a corps of eleven teachers. 




235 




NORTH WEST SCHOOL 

HE early history of the North West 
School district is difficult to trace, as 
there is so little available record. Just 
when the district was established is not 
known, but it is certain that a school 
building was erected previous to the 
veax 1800, probably about 1790, on the 
lot now belonging to Mr. Butterworth. 
The exact site of this first schoolhouse was, as near- 
ly as can be ascertained, on the elevation of land just 
north of the large gate leading to the Butterworth bam. 
The building was a one-story structure, made of wood, 
and fronting on the main street. 

The heating of the building was accomplished by a 
fire of wood on a stone hearth. The furniture was of 
the rustic sort. There was a row of rough board desks 
around thrte sides of the room and the seats or benches 
were made of a half log with the flat surface up, and the 
roundmg surface, into which legs were driven for sup- 
port, down. This building was used for school purposes 
up to the year 1836; it was then made over into a dwell- 
ing. The writer has no knowledge of its after history 
nor of the teachers who taught within its walls. 

The second schoolhouse, which was occupied in the 
year 1836, was also a one-story building, built of brick, 
and about 20x35 feet in size. It was erected on a tri- 
angular plot formed by the three roads just south of the 
Norwalk Mills and north of the Orcutt store, and about 
fifteen feet east of the Danbury and Norwalk railroad 
track. 

There was a belfry on this building, but no bell. 
There were eight windows in the building. A cloak 
room and a wood bin, leading from the cloak room, oc- 
cupied ont^ end of the building. The interior was very 
prettv with its arched ceiling and white walls. There 
was a row of desks around three sides of the room, and 
the pupils, when at their desks, sat with backs to the 
teacher, whose desk was in the front end of the room. 
The seats were benches about eight or ten feet in length 
without backs. In the center of the room were rows of 
recitation benches ; also two or three benches for pupils 
too small to sit at the desks. When a class was called 
pupils would turn on their benches, throw their feet over 



and face the teacher and then take places in class. This 
building would seat about fifty pupils conveniently, but 
often as many as sixty or seventy were enrolled. 

In the year 1850 a district meeting was called to 
take into consideration the damage incurred by the pass- 
ing 01 the Danbury and Norwalk railroad through the 
school property. A committee was appointed in 1857 
to employ counsel and wait on the president of the rail- 
road in regard to the collection of damages for the dis- 
trict. Whether any damages were allowed, the records 
do not say. This building continued to be used, how- 
ever, for several years with the railroad track just in the 
rear. 

The enumeration of the district in 185 1 was twenty- 
six. This same year a meeting was called to consider 
the advisability of consolidating the North West, South 
Center, Over River and Pudding Lane districts into one, 
lo be known as the Union School district. A resolution 
favoring this was passed and E. C. Bissell was appointed 
a committee to present the resolution to the School So- 
ciety's committee. 

Information as to the outcome of this proposed con- 
solidation is not given in the records. 

Amonar the teachers who taught in this second 
school building were Charles Gregory, Giles Gregory, 
John Taylor, Samuel Willard, Roswell Taylor, Hiram 
Fuller, tliram Edwards, George A. Davenport, who was 
later Judge of Probate for years; Mr. Morgan, Miss 
Keeler, Miss Nash, George Fillow, General Charles Olm- 
stead, for years postmaster of Norwalk and later secre- 
tary of the Board of School Visitors ; Ruth Stebbins, Sar- 
ah F. Aiken, who resides at present near the site of the 
brick school ; Homer Pinkney and J. J. Fairty. 

The salarv of the teachers employed in this building 
ranged from fourteen dollars per month in 1852 to forty- 
four dollar? in 1867. Some of the teachers were required 
to "board round." 

In the year 1866 the enumeration of the district was 
one hundred and fifty-five. In 1867 it had increased to 
one hundred and ninety-two. This large enumeration, 
together with the dangerous location of the school, seems 
to have moved the district to secure a site for the erec- 
tion of a new building. 

As earlv as 1863 a committee was appointed to 
select a site for a new schoolhouse and one just north of 

837 



ihe present school building, where the bill-board now 
stands, was chosen. 

In March, 1863, the district reconsidered the action 
taken by this committee and appointed a second com- 
mittee, consisting of Morgan Smith, C. M. Gregory and 
C. C. ]3etts, to purchase another site. 

They purchased the spot on which the present 
school building now stands for the sum of six hundred 
dollars. The records do not say why this site was 
chosen, possibly because, like Mount Zion, it was "beau- 
tiful for situation." 

The present very substantial building of granite was 
erected in 1867-8 at a cost of about eight thousand dol- 
lars. School was opened in this building in the fall of 
1 868. The brick schoolhouse was sold at public auction 
for one hundred dollars. William McAllister was the 
purchaser. 




238 



WEST NORWALK SCHOOL DISTRICT 




O records can be found of the organi- 
zation of the West Norwalk school. 

The existing records begin in 
1841. At that time the district was 
known as the North Five Mile River 
School District. 

The original schoolhouse had be- 
come so dilapidated and beyond repair 
That at a special meeting held September 25, 1841, it was 
voted to build a new school house, the dimensions to be 
18 feet by 22 feet and with lo-foot posts. It was to be 
completed on or before the first of May, and the funds 
were to be raised by a tax on the list of 1840. The 
building was finished in October, 1841, and cost $266.61. 
This was the second schoolhouse built in the district. 

In 1858 the building was enlarged by an addition 
of eight feet and received two coats of paint on its 
exterior surface. On September 23 of the same year 
it was voted to gravel around the door and place a door- 
stone. 

This building was in use until 1872, when it became 
loo small to accommodate the number of pupils in at- 
tendance, and a new one was again necessary. 

At a meeting held January 15, 1872, it was voted 
to build a new schoolhouse, the expense of which, includ- 
ing lot, not to exceed $2,500. Upon the completion of 
this building the old schoolhouse and lot were sold at 
auction to the highest bidder and realized the sum of 
S245. 

This was the third schoolhouse erected and the one 
now occupied. 

In 1877 th^ name of the district was changed to the 
West Norwalk School District. 

I HE first teacher mentioned in the rec- 
ords is Miss Frances A. Selleck, who 
in 1843 taught the "summer school" 
of five and one-half months, at nine 
dollars per month. Miss Selleck was 
followed by Andrew Hathaway, who 
taught the winter school. 

In 1844 it was voted that Miss 

Emily Street teach the summer school at nine dollars 

per month and "she board herself." 




In 1845 Miss Julia Weed was selected to teach at 
nine dollars per month for the "summer school." It was 
voted to employ a "female teacher" for the "winter 
school," and Miss Margaret Gilbert was engaged at 
twelve dollars per month. 

In 1846 Miss Julia Weed engaged at ten and one- 
half dollars per month. 

The name of tlie teacher for 1847 is not recorded. 

In 1848 Miss Julia Weed began the year at eleven 
dollars per month, and Deborah Anne Selleck completed 
it by teaching the winter school at fourteen dollars per 
month. 

In 1849 Miss Sarah C. Waterbury was chosen for 
six months at eleven dollars per month. Miss Ros- 
borough was employed for the winter school at "her 
lowest price." 

In 1850 Miss Julia Weed and Miss Rosborough 
divided the year at eleven and sixteen dollars per month 
respectively. 

In March, 1851, the teacher chosen for the summer 
school was Miss Bunnell ; for the winter school Miss 
Sophia C. Blackwell, whose salary was "not to exceed 
sixteen dollars per month." 

In 1852 the records name only the teacher for the 
winter school, Miss Nancy Gregory, at fourteen dollars 
per month. 

In 185^ the teachers were Miss Emily Street and 
Miss F. A. Selleck, at sixteen dollars per month each. 

In 1S54 records do not name teachers. 

In 1855 Miss F. A. Selleck taught the summer 
school of "five or live and one-half months, as agreeable 
to her wishes," at seventeen dollars per month. She 
continued to teach until 1857, when Miss Cornelia Bene- 
dict taught the summer school. Miss Selleck returned 
for the winter school of that year and taught till 1859. 
In 1858 her salary was twenty dollars per month, sub- 
ject to reduction provided the schoolhouse is enlarged. 

In 1859 Miss vSarah Keeler taught at twenty-two 
dollars per month. 

In i860 the summer school was taught by Miss 
Lydia A. Clock at eighteen dollars per month. For the 
winter school brawn as well as brain was needed, and 
was engaged in the person of Mr. E. B. Smith, at 
twenty-six dollars per month. 

In 1861 the summer school was taught by Miss 
Phoebe Ann Hoagland, at twenty dollars per month, and 

S40 



Mr. Smith again taught the winter school at twenty-eight 
dollars per month. 

In 1862 Miss Elizabeth Carter was employed for the 
summer school. Mr. Young taught the winter school at 
twenty-four dollars per month. 

At a special meeting on December 22nd, it was 
voted "that Mr. Yoimg be requested to withdraw from 
this meeting," also voted that Mr. Young is hereby cen- 
.-ured for violent language to his patrons and his exces- 
sive punishment in school, also that the clerk be re- 
quested to inform Mr. Young of the resolutions passed 
at this meeting." 

In 1863 Mrs. Isaac Selleck taught the summer 
school at eighteen dollars per month, and Mr. E. B. 
Smith completed the year. At a special meeting it was 
voted that "the teacher be requested not to use the Ruler 
as an Instrument of Punishment," which request was 
probably the result of the "excessive punishment in 
school" of Mr. Smith's predecessor. 

In 1864 Miss Sarah J. Hoyt taught at eighteen dol- 
lars per month, and Mr. Darrow was employed for the 
winter school. 

In 1S65 Miss Sarah M. Vail, at eighteen dollars, and 
Mr. Hoyt, of Stamford, officiated. 

In 1866 Miss Clara A. Street taught the summer 
school at fifteen dollars and the winter school was once 
more put in charge of a "female teacher," Miss Lydie 
E. Hall, at twentj'^-four dollars. 

In 1867 Miss Clara A. Street taught at eighteen dol- 
lars per month. 

In 1868 the teachers engaged were Miss L. E. Hall, 
at twenty dollars, and Miss Antoinette Smith, at thirty 
dollars. 

In 1869 Miss Smith continued to teach. 

In 1870 the district began to engage its teachers for 
the full school vear of ten months. Miss Hitchcock was 
selected at a salary "not to exceed thirty-five dollars per 
month." 

In 1872 Mr. Eben Hill, of Redding, was engaged. 
Mr. Hill taught until the spring of '73, when forced to 
resign by ill-health, and Mr. Walter Coley succeeded 
him. 

In 1874 Miss F. A. Selleck taught. 

For the vears of 1875-76, Miss Elizabeth Water- 
bury; 1876-77, Miss Elizabeth Waterburv ; 1877-78, 
Miss Emilie Black and Miss McDonald; 1878-79, Miss 



241 



Waterburv 1879-80, Miss Waterbury; 1880-81, Miss 
Nettie Hanford ; 1881-82, Mr. Wilbur E. Winton; 1882- 
83, Mr. E. M. Crofnt; 1883-84, Mr. E. M. Crofut; 
1884-85, Miss Kate Bradley; 1885-86, Miss Kate Brad- 
ley; at fifty dollars per month. 

For the years 18S6-87, Miss Kate Raymond; 1887- 
88, Miss Harriet Munger, Miss Ella Guyer, Miss M. 
Grossman, Miis Ttilia E. Bigelow; 1888-89, ^^iss Julia 
E. Bigelow; at forty -five dollars per month. 

For the years i'889-i90i, Mr. F. D. Stevens, first at 
forty-five dollars per month, until now at sixty dollars 
per month. 




SOUTH FIVE MILE RIVER 
SCHOOL DISTRICT 




HIS district was organized in 1820, and 
a small schoolhouse, twelve by fifteen 
feet in dimensions, with desks around 
the building in part and slab seats for 
the accommodation of twelve scholars. 
The teacher received sixteen dollars 
per month and "boarded 'round." The 
first schoolhouse stood on the hill just 
east of what was known as the Andrew Bell homestead. 
The second schoolhouse was built in 1848 on the river 
bank opposite the Raymond Cemetery, and was con- 
siderably larger and more comfortable in its appoint- 
ments. The present school building was erected in 1890, 
at a cost (including- grounds) of ten thousand dollars. 
Some of the early teachers were Mary Bell, Walter 
Bates, who is still living, Samuel Richards, John Ferris, 
Rufus Smith, Frederick Finch, Harriet Pennoyer, Emiiy 
Street. John W. McClellan is the principal of the school 
at present, with three teachers of the primary, inter- 
mediate and grammar grades. 




843 




PART FOUR 

CIVIC PROGRESS 
COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION 

(By S. R. Weed.) 

I HE early history of the commerce of 
Norwalk shows the same spirit of 
enterprise and daring which character- 
ized other sections of New England. 
With the whole shore of the Sound 
dotted with harbors and towns spring- 
ing up all the way from Newport to 
New York, it would have been strange 
if some of the fruits of this enterprise had not fallen to 
Norwalk. There came a race of hardy navigators who 
built and sailed vessels to the West Indies and built up a 
profitable coasting trade which has continued until tliis 
day. The records are meagre, but the principal facts 
show a steady progress forward. The leading particu- 
lars here given are taken from Selleck's Norwalk. The 
author says: 

"Capt. Richard Raymond, of Saybrook, heads the 
roll of Norwalk navigators. He ran a coasting vessel 
(transiently) in and out of Norwalk harbor in the seven- 
teenth century, his "pier" being in all probability near 
Fort Point. Old wharf remains have there been dis- 
covered. Capt. Josiah Thatcher, of Yarmouth, Mass., 
succeeded Capt. Raymond. Both these captains were 
evidently experienced sailors. Thatcher appeared in 
Norwalk early in the eighteenth century. His hill home 
(rear of present street railw^ay depot. Wall and Knight 
streets) commanded on that day the No'rwalk river, or, 
more properly, creek, and he was a prominent progenitor. 
Capt. James Hurlbut, a ship-builder of Saugatuck, is 
anciently mentioned, and in 1750 the name of Commo- 
dore John Cannon appeared. The keels of Cannon's 
vessels ploughed to West India waters. Nathan Mal- 
lory was a Norv\^alk captain in 1757 and remained in ser- 
vice until t8oo, Capt. David Whitney was a Noirwalk 
mariner in about 1775, who did good service in the 
Revolutionary' war. 

S44 



About 1770 the Polly made regular trips from Nor- 
walk to and from the Southern Islands. Capt. Squire 
piloted his bark hither from Barbadoes. On one trip in 
the spring of 1773 thirteen horses and eleven oxen were 
transported from Norvvalk to the West Indies. The 
horses realizing for their owners about one hundred and 
fifty dollars each and the oxen one hundred and fifty dol- 
lars per pair. Gov. Roberts, of Antigua, laid in, in 1773, 
Norwalk pork, hams and beans, and John Fane, of the 
same place, Norwalk corn and oats, and "Widow Hews" 
had 10,000 shingles. All these articles, with staves, flour, 
butter and earthern-ware, were exported to the West 
Indies and sugar, molasses and liquor from thence im- 
ported. A little before the battle of Lexington was 
fought the Polly, on one of its trips, brought as part of its 
cargo, nearly 2,000 gallons of molasses and nearly 4,000 
pounds of sugar. Later than 1770, Esaias Bouton owned 
a vessel that plied between Norwalk and Boston, and 
Isaac Wicks, of this town, was commissioned to cruise 
in the Sound. A ferry to Long Island was anon estab- 
lished by the Raymonds, and afterwards run by Ebenezer 
Phillips, at the close of the eighteenth century. Capt. 
Joseph Warren and his son, Capt. Samuel B. Warren, 
and later still Capt. Isaac Scudder and Capt. Daniel 
James, followed the marine profession. The Warrens 
alluded to employed at least two sailing vessels in the 
Nforwalk and New York transportation service, viz., the 
GrifRn and rhe R.epublican, which made regular trips — 
their city berth being adjacent to Catherine and James 
slips. Some few years later — 1812-1815 — the Long 
Island Sound commerce was almost annihilated by the 
British Commodore Hardy and the "Liverpool Packet." 
Sad work was made with Connecticut sloops and 
schooners. The North Shore sailors, however, notably 
Capt. Daniel Merritt (ancestor of the 1896 Merritts) 
sometimes eluded the enemy and made their way through 
the East River to the city front. From 1815 to the be- 
ginning of local steam navigation in 1824 there were 
several Norwalk coasting proprietors. Uriah Selleck 
was one of these. Eben D. Hoyt was a shipmaster at 
that time. In the summer of 1814 he built, on Uriah Sel- 
leck's dock, the sloop Teaser. Afterwards the firm 
name was E. D. Hoyt & Son, the line consisting of the 
Amon, Capt. Jedediah Brown ; the Mechanic, Capt. 
Samuel Daskam and Allen Brothwell ; the Citizen, Capt. 
Samuel Pennoyer and Sherman T. Morehouse, and the 



845 



Sabina, Capt. Fraser Hoyt. These vessels made two 
weekly trips to New York. 

Noah Selleck, having bought out the Hoyts, sailed 
from the Hoyt dock clear to the bridge. His line in- 
cluded the sloops Mary Ann Selleck, Domestic and Sur- 
plus, as an extra. At the same time Willis J. Merritt 
built and ran the sloop Mary Willis upon the New York 
and Norwalk route. Noah Selleck associated his 
brother Isaac, and the two were later succeeded by the 
iatter's son, Capt. Isaac vSelleck, Jr. Chas. T, Leonard 
then became temporary proprietor, and finally Capt. 
Isaac Demmon controlled the line. This was the end 
of the Norwalk packet history — which end was tragic. 
The last vessel of the regular line, the Domestic, was 
burned to the water's edge oft' Shippan Point, and her 
commander, Capt. Demmon, died on West avenue, Nor- 
walk. 

Mr. Selleck's history (from which the foregoing is 
quoted), adds that the passage by sail to the metropolis 
was sometimes accomplished in twenty-four hours, al- 
though there are Norwalk residents still living who have 
"run" the trip in twelve hours. The following is a copy 
of an advertisement in The Norwalk Gazette of Nov. 4, 
1818: 

NORWALK PACKET. 

The New Superior Fast Sailing Sloop Packet, 

Master, Samuel Daskam, is intended solely for the 
accommodation of Passengers, having three elegant and 
Spacious Cabins, with 42 Berths. 

The Proprietors assure their friends and the public 
that no exertions will be spared for the accommodation 
of Passengers. The Bar will be well furnished with the 
best of Liquors, Wine, Porter, etc. 

The Sloop leaves Norwalk Wednesdays and Satur- 
days, and New York on Mondays and Thursdays. 

Capt. William H. Ferris was one of the early navi- 
gators of Norwalk. He was one of the owners of the 
sloop Orange, in 1833, and after various experiences of 
the sweet and bitter sort he sold out and bought an in- 
terest in one of Hoyt ^ Co.'s vessels plying as a market 
boat between New York and Stamford. In one year he 
made forty-four round trips between these ports, which 

246 



was accounted as rare good luck. In 1845 he built the 
schooner Josephine, and sailed her between Albany and 
Baltimore' for twelve years. He had a narrow escape 
from death in 1838. He was in a vessel off the Battery 
in New York harbor. In throwing over an anchor the 
stock caught in a heavy lion skin which Capt. Ferris 
wore. The anchor was so heavy it dragged him over- 
board. He had a knife and tried to cut himself loose, 
but failed, and then, at the bottom of the harbor, he 
actually unbuttoned and removed his coat. He soon 
reached the surface, after having been given up as lost 
by his crew. He lived to a green old age and died in 
Norwalk only a few vears ago. 

Again we quote from Selleck's "Norwalk," as fol- 
lows: 

"The sail to the metropolis was an event in those 
days. At first the greater part of the hull was berthed 
off, as the passenger lists ran at times to fifty, but as the 
Selleck and Merritt era neared more space was needed 
for freight. Market Day was a busy one at the bridge 
and there was a stir when the wagoners arrived. James 
Wilkes drove from New Fairfield, Nathan Benedict from 
Ridgebury, John Knowles from New Milford, Benedict 
Dunning from Brookfield, Hull from Danbury, Myron 
Dykman from Redding, Samuel Seymour from North 
V\^ilton, Russell Mead from Ridgefield, and Nathaniel 
Close from North Salem. The cabin, divided into two 
parts by sliding doors, was appropriated to the captain 
and passengers. There were no 'state rooms,' but curtain 
berths on the Orion 'five lengths' lined on both sides of 
both cabins. In a Hudson river cabin Alexander Ham- 
ilton, in 1787, penned the opening chapters of the 'Fed- 
eralist' (undoubtedly the most profound treatise on 
government ever written). No Norwalk sloop cabin, it 
is said, was ever thus distinguished. Nevertheless, it 
may be well believed that the time therein spent by our 
merchants and professional men of that era was not en- 
tirely misimproved and our business men of more recent 
years, such as George Bishop, Charles Isaacs and 
Thomas Warner, patronized the route, the latter of whom 
when intending to make the trip was wont after bank 
hours to go to the dock and interrogate the captain as 
to 'the prospect.' If the reply came 'fair weather and 
fine wind,' the cashier was sure to be aboard at the hour 
of sailing and almost as certain to find himself at James 
Slip in the morning. Upon the down passage the boat 



247 



was considered well under way when Sheffield Island 
was cleared, between which and Sand's Point lay the 
long Sound stretch, the route leading from thence 
through the lower sound, East River, the 'Gate' and East 
and West channels (Blackw^ell's Island), and around the 
Hook to the finish. Capt. Jacob Nash, born in Ridge- 
field in 1772, but a resident later of Norwalk, was a mas- 
ter mariner, and so was his son, Capt. Daniel K. Nash. 
Ihe latter and his neighbor, Capt. WilHam H. Ferris, 
are well remembered. 

"Sloop and schooner passenger traffic gradually fell 
ofif when steam superseded the wind as a motive power. 
John Fitch's great grandfather resided for a short time 
(1652) in Norw^alk, but the great inventor himself 
launched the original steam propelled vessel in the world 
on Collect Pond, Smith's Valley, now Center street, 
New York, some thirty-six years after Fulton's Cler- 
mont. Henry Eetts, of Norwalk, assisted by two or 
three citizens of means, constructed a small engine, and 
planting it in a modest craft prepared for 'the trial.' The 
start upon the maiden trip was made and 'Oyster Shell 
Point' was reached when the vessel was blown up, thus 
putting a period to Norwalk river steam navigation until 
the appearance in the harbor in the spring of 1824 of the 
pioneer steamboat General Lafayette, which plied be- 
tween Norwalk and New York until succeeded later in 
the season by the John Marshall, Capt. Pennoyer and 
later Capt. John Brooks, an enterprise for which Henry 
Belden first president of the Fairfield County Bank stood 
lesponsibk, and the Marshall made three trips each way 
every week, and lay in Norwalk at Uriah Selleck's dock 
(near Chas. T. Leonard's present coal yard), and what- 
ever'shore office'the boat had, being in the same Selleck's 
country store on the dock. In the spring of 1829 the 
Baltimore was put upon the route by Cornelius Vander- 
bilt as an opposition boat. This gave place in 1830 and 
1 83 1 to the Citizen, which succeeded in running ofif the 
John Marshall. Vanderbilt at that time was called the 
proprietor of Long Island Sound. The Flushing Pecks 
now appeared upon the scene, who, being associated with 
Charles Hoyt, and having bought the Citizen from Van- 
derbilt, ran the same while the Fairfield was building by 
Lawrence & Sneeden near 8th Street. New York. 
When the Fairfield was completed and had proven a 
success, the Nlmrod was started and went into service in 
1836. Previous to the latter's arrival the Westchester 



S48 



ran for a brief period in opposition. (This boat was put 
upon the route during the cholera season, as so many 
flew the city at that time the fare between New York 
and Norwaik was raised to seventy-five cents. The Van- 
derbiU owner of the Westchester lowered the fare to 
twelve and a half cents, which created fierce opposition 
and aroused an intense interest. The first boats came 
to the bridge, and their arrival was the signal for a dis- 
charge of cannon from Town House Hill and the gather- 
ing of multitudes at that point and at Bessey's Hill. The 
Westchester was withdrawn from the Norwaik route to 
be placed on the Hudson river as one of the maiden boats 
of the now famous "People's Line." This line, it is pos- 
sible, was actually born in Norwaik. Alanson P. and 
Edward St. John, Philip Cannon and Gordon Coles were 
largely the inaugurators of the new enterprise.) The 
Nimrod being ready, the two distinguished Sound com- 
manders, John Brooks and Curtis Peck, confronted each 
other. The Pecks disposed of the Citizen to the Hoyts, 
to the Norwaik bridge, as a packet commanded by Cap- 
lain Munson Hoyt Not long after the boat was sold 
for excursions and then for towing purposes and finally 
came to an end by a boiler explosion. The Fairfield and 
Nimrod did a prosperous business and stages from as far 
north as Danbury and east as Bridgeport connected with 
both boats. 

"At this juncture of Norwalk's steamboat suc- 
cess the Napoleon was put upon the route and 
the climax of enthusiasm was reached. This boat 
was denominated 'Peck's Get-up,' and the even- 
ing of its arrival at Old Well was a memoia- 
Me one. At the close of the trip the captain ap- 
peared and made a five minutes' speech, ending with: 
Be true to the Napoleon and she will be true to^ you.' 
The multitude was then invited aboard and taken up to 
the bridge. The people still clung to the boat and were 
carried back to the Old Well (where the vessel was to 
remain over night) and walked home again. A good 
business season followed. Eventually Captains Peck 
and Brooks came to an agreement that the boats, one 
week the Fairfield and the next the Nimrod should run 
through to Bridgeport. This arrangement continued 
until the btiilding of the Housatonic railroad, when 
Capt. Brooks gave up the Norwaik route altogether, 
leaving everything in Capt. Peck's hands. The Croton 
was now put on the line, then the Cricket, the Cataline, 



249 



the Curtis, the Peck and the Hero. The St. Nicholas, a 
tentative boat, from time to time ran in opposition, but 
the Pecks were masters of the situation. They so con- 
tinued until the opening of the New Haven and New 
York railroad: Lawrence M. Stevens, in 1849, put the 
Norwalk in service, and in 1852 Stephen Olmstead, Stiles 
Curtis and Edward C. Eissell adventured the Pacific, 
Capt. Joe Byxbee (largely a freighter), which boat's pas- 
sage through the draw on May 6, 1853, was followed by 
the terrible railway calamity of that date. The John 
Hart, Confidence, George Law, Americus, Netty White, 
John Romer, Arrowsmith, Pegasus, Cape Charles, and 
Adelphi (City of Albany) are names of Norwalk steam 
craft of modern times." 

Among the craft named by the Norwalk historian 
was the Confidence and one boat not named, the Wilson 
G. Hunt. Upon both of these steamers the present 
writer well remembers having made trips from New 
York when a small boy. What makes this recollection 
interesting is that a few years later these identical boats 
survived the perils of 16,000 miles of navigation upon the 
Atlantic and Pacific oceans and reached the port of San 
Francisco. California. A little later, in 1855 and 1856, 
the Confidence and Wilson G. Hunt became alternating 
daily boats of the California Navigation line between 
Sacramento City and San Francisco, and it was the wri- 
ter's privilege to make many trips in these two boats be- 
tween the two ports. Their hulks decayed at last on the 
banks of the Sacramento river. This writer has also' a 
keen recollection of some of the other boats named by the 
historian. Their trips from New York to Old Well in- 
cluded stops at Portchester, Rocky Neck (Greenwich) 
and Stamford. Once upon the old Croton the writer 
remembers his first encounter with a hurricane. His 
father and mother were quite alarmed, and as the waves 
covered the lower deck and threatened to fill the furnace 
rooms, there was evidently cause for anxiety. The 
Croton put into Cow Bay for the night, and the next 
morning resumed her trip to Norwalk. The experience 
has never been forgotten. Thousands of old residents 
remember these journeys on the Sound in the steamboats 
of the early days. The Cataline was another of the 
famous boats. She was sold in 1861 to the United 
States government as a transport and when the price 
paid was made public there was a scandal, and charges 
of fraud and corruption. The Cataline hardly fulfilled 

250 



the expectations of the government, but the contractors 
who bought and sold her were satisfied. The CataHne 
used to land at the foot of Catherine street, New York, 
and one day the strain on one of the landing hawsers was 
so great that it suddenly broke and threw a dozen per- 
sons to the ground. One of the boys who thus narrowly 
escaped was the writer of these lines. 

The statistics of Norwalk's commerce are not suf- 
ficiently comprehensive to give us much idea of its extent 
or importance according to modern standards, but we 
may infer that the principal exports were agricultural 
products. The "Market Day" previously alluded to, 
was an institution similar to that w^hich is witnessed in 
himdreds of places to-day. Railroads have changed 
these conditions largely, but there are even in New Eng- 
land ''market days" still when buyers and sellers meet. 
The methods are different, however. Now the produce 
of farms is not so generally sold for export, but there are 
yet days when "butter" is brought to the centers upon 
particular days. In the old days the farmers and their 
wives sent their products by wagons to the landings all 
over Connecticut — and many an old resident to-day can 
recollect of the back-breaking torture of carrying for 
long distances baskets of eggs or jars of butter to reach 
the sloops bound for New York. The introduction of 
manufactiu-ed goods made some changes in the cargoes 
as years progressed, but in those days as now the return 
cargoes consisted largely of coal, lumber and building 
hardware. It is only a few years since any systematic 
attempt has been made to supply statistics of the com- 
merce of Norwalk by water. The United States govern- 
ment has instructed the Engineer Corps at New London 
to obtain statistics of all the harbors on the Sound as! a 
means of judging their commercial importance. The 
railroads have interfered so largely in the freight move- 
ments that it is impossible to judge of the aggregate 
trade statistics of any of these ports by the water route 
figures. With these qualifications it W'ill be seen that 
Norwalk is bv no means of small importance in the ex- 
tent of its shipments by water. In order to show by 
comparison the movements of Norwalk commerce, the 
figures are appended for five years, ending June 30, 1882 
and from 1890 and 1891 ; also 1895 and 1896; also 1899 
and 1900 ' 



251 



COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. 





For the Year Ending J 


une 30th,— 




ARTICLES 














J878 


1879 


1880 


1881 


1883 


Received: 












Coal, tons 


76,000 


76,000 


78,000 


81,999 


90,200 


Iron, tons 


3,500 


3,450 


3,600 


4,150 


4,400 


Lumber, feet 


12,000,000 


12,000,000 


10,000,000 


30,000,000 


31,559,956 


Gen. Mdse., tons 


38,760 


36,860 


39.100 


48,085 


53,565 


Shipped: 












Lumber, feet 


100,000 


125,000 


140,000 


440,000 


540,000 


Gen. Mdse., tons 


2,96s 


2,565 


3,09s 


38,984 


48,77s 


Vessels arriving 












and departing: 












Steamers 


510 


520 


S40 


1,119 


1,459 


Sailing Vessels 


310 


320 


340 


482 


539 


Barges 


360 


365 


375 


434 


Soo 



Vessels ovrned in or hailing from Norwalk and South Norwalk. Conn. 
70; tonnage, 3,008. 





1890 


1891 


1895 


1896 




Tons 


Value 


Tons 


Value 


Tons 


Value 


Tons 


Value 


Coal 


85,000 

17,500 

(14,000,000 

feet) 

210,000 


$ 340,000 
350,000 

12,600,000 


100,000 

18,500 

(16,000,000 

feet) 

250,000 


$ 400,000 
390,000 

15,000,000 


102,750 


9 385.312 


73,790 


$ 310,58s 


Gen. Mdse. 
Building 


47,775 
41,070 
9,500 


4,082,875 
303,400 
200,000 


43,500 

24,755 

4,000 


4,614,250 


Oysters and 
Shell Fish 
























Totals 


312,500 


13,290,000 


368,500 


15,790,000 


201,09s 


4,971.587 


146,04s 


5,184,349 





1890 


1891 


1895 


1896 


Vessels Arriving 
and Departing 


No. of 
Round Trips 


No. of 
Round Trips 


No. of 
Round Trips 


No. of 
Round Trips 


Steamers 
Sailing Vessels 
Barges 


650 
500 
370 


1,051 

475 
600 


358 
200 
303 


60s 
131 
257 




1,520 


2,126 


861 


993 



Oyster Steamers and Small Sail Boats are not Included. 
252 





Report for Year 1901 




Freight 


Gross Tons 


Value 


Hard Coal 
Soft Coal 
Blue Stone 
Beach Sand 
Building Materials 
Crushed Stone 
Brick 




12,220 
9,620 
300 
5° 
360 
760 
400 


|6l,200 

28,860 

4,500 

100 

216 

f 1,000 

? 1,300 




23,710 


$97,176 



Vessels 


Tonnage 


Draft 


Trips 


67 Barges 
22 Sail 


100 to 900 tons 
30 to 250 tons 


5 to II feet 
5 to 12 feet 


67 
22 




BANKING IN NORWALK 



(By Eben Hill.) 



w 




^8 





ANKING, according to the general 
acceptation ol the term, had its incep- 
tion in Norwalk with the establish- 
ment ol the Fairfield County Bank in 
1824. Prior to that changes of money 
were effected at the stores of dealers 
in dealers of general merchandise, and 
loans were obtained from the more 
provident or more fortunate individuals in the commun- 
ity. 

The store of the early days was a department store 
more universal in its ambition than the great department 
stores of the present. All things vendable were expected 
to be here on sale,, and the transition from transactions 
purely mercantile to operations of a banking character 
easily followed in natural course. Thus we find about 
1800 that the firm of Eliphalet Lockwood & Son was to a 
great extent the bank for Norwalk and vicinity. This 
firm had its store near the east end ol the bridge in old 
Norwalk. It was largely engaged in the West India 
business — sending out in its own vessels live stock, 
horses, manufactured lumber, etc., and importing sugar, 
molasses and all West Indian products. Agents were 
located throughout the county and nearby towns in New 
York State and a large business transacted. The farmers 
and business men were quite generally accommodated 
with loans of money — notes being taken usually without 
security, the amounts being ordinarily from fifty to two 
hundred dollars. William and Buckingham Lockwood 
succeeded this firm and continued the business until 
1828. 

The necessity for a regularly organized bank had 
ere this become evident, and in 1824 the Fairfield 
County Bank was organized under the state law. A 
branch bank was at the same time opened in Danbury. 
This branch bank became the Danbury Bank in 1844. 

The first president, Henry Belden, served twelve 
years and was followed successively by Clark Belden, 
eleven years : A. E. Beard, five years ; Chas. Isaacs, six- 
teen years ; F. St. John Lockwood, twenty-one years ; 

254 



James W. Hyatt, three years, and O. E. Keeler, the pre- 
sent (1901) incumbent, eight years. 

The cashiers have been: John J. Barnard, E. M. 
Morg-an, H. T. Morgan, T. Warner, Jr., J. Morehead, 
Geo. E. Millei, C. H. Street, L. S. Cole, L. C. Betts and 
L. C. Green. 

Among the directors are found the names of many 
of Norwalk's most respected citizens and successful busi- 
ness men. From its employees several of the important 
industries of Norwalk have drawn their managing men. 
In the list of its presidents are a Bank Commissioner of 
the State of Connecticut, a Treasurer of the United 
States and a Lieutenant Governor of the State. "Old 
Reliable'" is its sobriquet. 

In 1865 its banking system was changed to that of 
the National Banks, and under that system the business 
is carried on at present. 

Like any institution with an experience of three- 
quarters of a century, the bank has faced panics and 
losses, but always with a showing of financial strength 
which confirmed its credit and sound resources. 

The present capital is $200,000. 

Officers and Directors: E. O. Keeler, President; 
D. H. Miller, Vice-President; L. C. Green, Cashier; 
Directors, E. O. Keeler, D. H. Miller, F. St. John Lock- 
wood, Ira Cole, M. IT. Glover, A. J. Meeker, C. F. Tris- 
tram, L. C. Green. 

Next in order of succession to the responsibilities 
01 caring for the financial interests of the town is the 
Bank of Norwalk. In the '50s Norwalk had outgrown 
one bank. Manufacturing interests had developed and 
demands of a bank -character existed which at times 
seemed too radical for the managers of the only financial 
institution in town. As a result the Bank of Norwalk 
was established in 1857. 

Ebenezer Hill, A. E. Beard, Isaac S. Beers, Jonathan 
Camp, John A. Weed, Chas. B. White, Stiles Curtis, F. 
Belden and Samuel Lynes were the active promoters. 
Hill, White, Curtis, Belden, Camp, Weed and Lynes con- 
stituted the first board of directors, being elected June 
10, 1857. 

Ebenezer Hill, the first president, served eighteen 
years until his death, June 10, 1875. Stiles Curtis fol- 
lowed as president seven years, and in 1882 was suc- 
ceeded by Ebenezer Hill, the son of the first president, 
who at this writing (1901) holds the position. 

255 



John A. Weed acted as cashier pro tern for two 
months, followed by Chas. G. Rockwood for seven 
months, who in turn was succeeded by R. B. Crawford. 
Mr. Crawford served for twenty-five years and was suc- 
ceeded in 1883 by the present cashier, Henry P. Price. 

The brown stone building now occupied by the bank 
was completed in 1S58. Until the new building was 
ready the bank occupied a little wooden store on the 
north side of Wall street east of the present structure of 
the Norwalk Savings Society. Unpainted pine desks 
and counters attested the economy and thrift of the 
managers. A small safe held the assets, and two grain 
sacks protected the books. These were left convenient 
for quick removal in case of fire. 

Our honored townsman, Mr. Frank A. Ferris, is the 
only person now living who was connected with the new 
bank. The minutes recite that on motion it was voted to 
take Mr. Ferris as clerk on trial, and if he be found satis- 
factory he was to be engaged permanently. The young 
clerk evidently gave satisfaction, for he was subsequently 
duly voted the princely salary of $50 per annum. 

The cashier was rolling in wealth on $1,500 per year, 
and the president was serving on a nominal salary. At 
this time the compensation of the president of the older 
Fairfield County Bank was one cent for each signature 
on the bank's bills. 

Chas. L. Rockwell, of late years a financial leader 
in Meriden, Conn., and E. J. Hill, now vice-president of 
the bank and Connecticut's able and honored U. S. Con- 
gressman, began their business careers as boys in the 
Bank of Norwalk. 

Three months after the opening of the bank the 
financial cyclone of 1857 broke over the country. In 
September every bank in New York city suspended pay- 
ment. The horror of the situation can only be realized 
by recalling the system of banking then generally pre- 
vailing. Banks were organized under State laws. They 
issued bills generally to ninety per cent, of their capital. 
These bills were secured by nothing but the assets of the 
bank, and their remaining in circulation depended en- 
tirely on the confidence of the people in the bank's ability 
to redeem the bill in gold or silver on presentation. 
Banks kept on hand coin to the amount of twenty-five 
per cent, of their outstanding bills in order to be prepared 
tor the ordinary demands of redemption, and in many 
cases they also arranged to have some banks in New 

256 



York or Boston redeem their bills when presented there. 
When bills were thus made redeemable in New York, 
the bank could safely reduce its own reserve, and the 
law allowed it to be only ten per cent. Thompson's 
Bank Note Reporter was on the desk of every cashier 
in the land. Bills of every bank were described in it ; 
the credit of every bank given ; and all information given 
to guard the public against bills of weak or failing banks. 
So long as the people believed they could get gold for a 
bill, it would pass freely from hand to hand ; but with the 
least breath of suspicion against a bank, its bills would 
be rapidly presented for redemption, often beyond the 
present ability of the bank to pay. The result was sus- 
pension, often failure for the hank, and embarrassment 
for every holder of that bank's bills. 

Constant care was necessary to guard against "bad" 
money. As a result bank bills would circulate readily 
only where they were well known. A small or obscure 
bank could get little benefit from its circulation, for its 
bills would remain near home and be constantly present- 
ed for redemption. A high credit and their being known 
over a wide area were the factors necessary for the suc- 
cessful floating of circulation. 

The Bank of Norwalk had its bills redeemed in New 
York and Boston and they passed at par everywhere. The 
methods of issue is interestingly told by Mr. F. A. Fer- 
ris. 

"In those days the circulation was generally a very 
important function and arrangements were made with 
special customers to get out the bank notes along lines 
where they would be likely to stay out for some time. I 
well remember occasions when notes were discounted 
for stock men who went through New York and Ohio 
to purchase horses, cattle, etc. In order to be sure that 
the representations of these customers were carried out, 
such bank notes furnished were often stamped with some 
single letter from a movable type, and in this way we 
could teil whether payments had been widespread and 
well scattered as promised, for if the notes came back 
for redemption in a bunch at about the same time, it 
would show they had been used in other ways. Some- 
times a little round hole made by a shoemaker's punch 
was usea to mark such bills and this device being placed 
in diflerent portions of the bills for dififerent occasions 
could be quite extensively used without interfering with 
the strength of the paper. Doubtless many people won- 

257 



dered for what purpose bank bils were thus mutilated. - 

Manufacturing concerns in New York and elsewhere 
had arrangements with the bank to 'have its notes sent 
to them for their weekly or semi-monthly payrolls. I re- 
call also that we had a' deal with Mr. E. S. Keeler, then 
ticket agent of the N. Y. & N. H. R. R., at 27th St. and 
4th Ave., by which he paid out as change, only the notes 
cf the Bank of Norwalk, sending us in exchange, by ex- 
press at stated intervals, larger notes of other banks 
which he had received from travelers. This was not only 
of value to the bank, but^it also was a protection to the 
ticket ofBce, inasmuch as counterfeit and broken bank 
bills were frequently returned to the agent with the state- 
ment that the traveler had received them in exchange at 
his office. If only one sort of bank notes was given out, 
this was a bar to such dishonest claims, and for a time 
our bank controlled this method of circulation." 

Bow different is this matter now, when a National 
Bank bill, secured by government bonds, is received 
without question or a thought regarding the particular 
bank that issued it ! 

The siorm of 1857 was safely weathered, but follow- 
ing close came years of political unrest which culminated 
in the civil war of 1861. Fort Sumter fell Saturday 
April 13th. Sunday night Norwalk first heard Lincoln's 
call for 75,000 men. Early Monday morning Ebenezer 
Hill, after an unsatisfactory interview with the Brigadier 
General of Connecticut's militia, hired a drum, a fife and 
a hall and started the enrollment of a company which 
went to the front. Capt. James Russell states that 
"Uncle Eben" came to Bridgeport and gave each man, a 
$10 bill, — the only money they got before leaving the 
state. 

The Bank of Norwalk directors believed, as was of- 
ten argued by its president, that if the government was 
not good, nothing was good, and from the first it threw 
all its influence and its resources on the side of the 
Union. 

April 19th the minutes record an ofifer of fifty thous- 
and dollars to the Governor of Connecticut. 

March 4th was the first purchase of U. S. 7.30 treas- 
ury notes, and at short intervals thereafter as money was 
available, purchases of bonds were made. It took cour- 
age and patriotism in those days to buy even govern- 
ment bonds. 

It is here worthy of note that on April nth, the gov- 



ernment had offered five million notes on the market and 
only one million was subscribed.- 

' Early in 1865 the bank became a National Bank un- 
dei the new law. 

Soon after the outbreak of the war silver and gold 
money disaopeared from circulation. Specie payments 
were suspended by the United States, December 28, 1861. 
The famous United States greenback appeared early in 
1862 and served well the purpose of money as far as de- 
nominations of one dollar or more were concerned, but 
for small change resort was had to postage stamps. A 
gummed postage stamp soon had a style of its own after 
passing from hand to hand as a substitute for money. 
The idea of value, however, resided in it, 9,nd "it went." 
The government soon printed postage stamps of the reg- 
ulation form, but upon paper of about the size of a visit- 
ing card having an ornamental border, and these were 
the renowned "shin plasters." Many issues of various 
designs were put in circulation before the nickel five cent 
piece and silver coins appeared again. 

The war brought out many patriotic societies, but 
none more important than the Association for the Care of 
Soldiers' Families. Prominent in the Norwalk Associa- 
tion were the Directors of the Bank of Norwalk. Its 
President was the Treasurer and the bank became head- 
quarters for the society. Many hours v;ere devoted to 
the distribution of financial help, — giving counsel on 
family and business matters, and alas often comfort to 
the widow and the fatherless. Chas. L. Rockwell, the 
Teller of the bank, Avas an energetic, able and patriotic 
assistant in every good work of a local or national char- 
acter. 

On the night of September 30, 1869, the vault of the 
bank was blown up by nitroglycerine, and money and se- 
curities amounting to $170,000 were taken. After years 
of pursuit one only of the thieves' associates was landed 
in prison and a portion of the booty recovered, but the 
principal rascals were never caught. 

The first note discounted by the Bank of Norwalk 
was for a manufacturing company, and its interest in our 
local factories has been constant and liberal. The direc- 
tors have been largely associated with enterprises em- 
ploying many skilled men, and the principal payrolls of 
the town are drawn from accounts on deposit here. 

The capital, surplus and profits are $340,000, thus 
making it the largest National bank in the Nor walks. 

259 



It is a depositary for the United States and also the State 
of Connecticut. 

The present ofificers and directors are: E, Hill, 
President; E. J. Hill, Vice President; H. P. Price, Cash- 
ier; J. P. Treadvvell, Assistant Cashier. Directors, E. 
J. Hill, J. A. Osborn, E. K. Lockwood, D. W. Fitch, W. 
F. Bishop, J. C. Randle, O. E. Wilson and J. P. Tread- 
well. 

The First National Bank of South Norwalk was 
also the first bank in town to organize under the war 
measure establishing national banks. It was organized 
in 1864 with $200,000 capital, which was subsequently 
reduced to $100,000. 

A. E. Beard acted as President during its organiza- 
tion. He wa.^ followed by L. H. Moore for one year. 
Dudley P. Ely was next chosen President in 1865 and, 
with the exception of one year, acted for thirty years 
until his death in 1895. E. K. Lockwood served as Pres- 
'dent one year, and Russell Frost, succeeding Mr. Ely, 
was President six years and until the winding up of the 
bank in 1901. 

Jonah J. Millard was the first cashier, acting twenty- 
five years until his death in 1S89. Chas. E. Ferris was 
next cashier until T901. Mr. Ferris had been in the em- 
ploy of the bank as clerk, bookkeeper, teller and cashier 
since 1865. 

A large amount of the stock was owned by its ven- 
erable President, Mr. Ely, and in a great measure he 
dominated the affairs and was responsible for the policy 
of the bank. Success crowned his thirty years of effort. 

Associated with the bank as director at various times 
were W. S. Hanford, C. F. Tolles, W. H. Ferris, F. Di- 
mon, L. Dibble, Tallmadge Baker, P. L. Cunningham, 
S. G. Ferris, A. J. Crofut, E. Scofield, G. C, Lockwood, 
R. B. Keeler, John Dingee, E. Sherwood, Samuel Clark, 
John H. Knapp, E. A. Woodward, A. Solmans, D. F. 
Benedict, A. E. Austin, A. Dibble, J. G. Jennings, S, L. 
Grumman and R. H. Golden. 

On June 22nd, 1876, was organized Norwalk's 
fourth bank, — the Central National. 

Thomas H. Morrison, Ambrose S. Hurlbutt and 
John P. Beatty were the committee actively engaged to 
obtaining subscriptions to the capital stock, and with H. 
F. Guthrie, G. M. Holmes, P. L. Cunningham, VVm. R. 
Smith, Chas. Smith and Sherman Morehouse constituted 
the first Board of Directors. Mr. Hurlbutt was, on June 



27th, chosen President and served until 1888, when he 
resigned and was succeeded by Geo. M. Holmes, who 
still is in office. Thos. H. Morrison was the first Vice- 
President, acting in that capacity until his death which 
occurred at Nassau, N. P., February, 1884. Mr. Harri- 
son was the prime mover in organizing the institution 
and always took a great interest in the bank he founded. 
Mr. Holmes succeeded as Vice-President and subse- 
quently Avas chosen President, as above stated. Mr. E. 
L. Bover is the present Vice President, being elected in 
1888. ' 

The cashier, Mr. W. A. Curtis, has served in that 
capacity since the bank's organization. His earlier 
banking experience was with the Fairfield County 
National Bank, and subsequently in Chicago. The bank 
was authorized by the Comptroller of the Currency to 
commence business Aug. 29, 1876, and formally opened 
its doors Sept. nth. The present banking rooms. No. 
26 Wall St., Gazette building, have been occupied from 
the start. 

The first dividend was paid January, 1878, and pay- 
ments have continued semi-annually since, amounting in 
the aggregate to $174,000 on the capital of $100,000. 

The present officers are G. M. Holmes, President; 
E. L. Boyer, Vice President; W. A. Curtis, Cashier, 
Cashier. Associated with the above as Directors are H. 
E. Dann, H. M. Kent, J. T. Prowitt and S. H. Holmes. 
The organization of the City National Bank of South 
Norwalk was the outgrowth of a general desire on the 
part of the business community for the establishment of 
?. people's bank, and the first steps were taken at an in- 
formal meeting of citizens held on January 3rd, 1882, at 
the office of Nelson Taylor on Washington "Street, at 
which meeting Edwin Adams presided. It was decided 
to start such a bank, and the full amount of the proposed 
capital stock of $100,000 was quickly raised by seventy- 
two subscribers. 

The bank was authorized to commence business 
March 4th, 1882. It opened its doors April 12, 1882, at 
No. 68 Washington Street, near the corner of South Mam 
Street, and continued to occupy that location until April 
5th, 1898, v/hen it moved into its present new and com- 
modious quarters, fitted with the latest improved vaults, 
at 99 Washington Street, in the United Bank building, 
erected jointly with the South Norwalk Savings Bank. 
The original officers of the bank were Robert H. 

861 



Rowan, President ; John H. Knapp, Vice President, and 
Jacob M. Layton, Cashier. Mr. Rowan served as Presi- 
dent (with the exception of about a year, during which 
time Tallmadge Baker acted as President), from the or- 
ganization of the bank until his sudden death on Septem- 
ber 20th, 1900. 

Mr. Knapp has been Vice President of the bank 
since its organization and still continues in the office. 
Mr. Layton is still Cashier of the bank, having also been 
continuously in ofifice since the starting of the bank. John 
H. Ferris was elected to succeed Mr. Rowan as Presi- 
dent of the bank and is still in ofiEice. 

The original directors were Robert H. Rowan, John 
H. Knapp, Tallmadge Baker, Josiah R. Marvin, Edwin 
Adams, Andrew J. Crofut, John H. Ferris, Christian 
Swartz and Edwin H. Mathewson. Of these five still 
remain in office, viz.: John H. Knapp, John H. Ferris, 
Josiah R. Marvin, Christian Sv/artz and E. H. Mathew- 
son, and with Henrv Seymour, Samuel Grumman, J. 
Wallace Marvin and John H. Light constitute the pres- 
ent Board of Directors. 

The bank has always been conservatively managed 
and singularly successful, and has paid regular dividends 
semi-annually ever since its first year of existence of not 
less than 6 per cent, per annum and has accumulated a 
surplus of $100,000, equalling the capital of the bank, 
and has besides $25,000 of other undivided profits. Its 
aim has been to be a solid and successful bank, and its 
success is a matter of just pride to those who have man- 
aged its affairs and a satisfaction to the public and its 
patrons. 

The voungest child in Norwalk's family of banks 
is the South Norwalk Trust Company. Organized April 
4th, under a special charter of Connecticut, it began busi- 
ness April T5th, 190T. The capital is $50,000. 

This bank receives deposits subject to check as the 
ordinary banks of deposit and discoimt ; it also has la 
Savings Bank department, and further acts as Trustee, 
Administrator or Executor of estates. This last men- 
tioned duty is undertaken by no other institution in town 
and in that respect, if in no other, the new company finds 
a welcome in the business community. 

The President is R. H. Golden; Vice President, E. 
O. Keeler; the Secretary and Treasurer, Charles E. 
Hoyt. The Directors are F. A. Ferris, Asa B. Wood- 
ward, Nelson Taylor, W. H. Perry, E. O. Keeler, T. I. 



Raymond, Theodore S. Lowndes, F. A. Smith and R. H. 
Golden. In this board is represented the older banks, 
the legal profession, and the business and property in- 
terests of the town. 

In its special field this institution should meet with 
abundant success. 

llie Savings Banks of Norwalk, as will be seen by 
noticing the names of the incorporators and managers, 
were started by men already interested in the banks of 
deposit and discount. They have been of great help 
to the town, and the thanks of the community are due to 
the Directors who have given without compensation so 
much of their time and care to the interests of the thrifty 
and saving people of Norwalk and vicinity. 

Being managed on lines differing from the National 
Bank, the Savings Banks as a rule gave their attention to 
other classes of investments, although at times when the 
manufacturing and other interests have required it, the 
Savings Banks have Hberally discounted paper, not in 
competition, but rather to the assistance of the National 
Banks. 

The history of a savings bank, as a rule, does not 
make an exciting narrative, particularly when it is care- 
fully managed and its depositors successful and thrifty. 
Norwalk's savings banks have enjoyed every advantage 
contributing to a peaceful financial life. Once only the 
Norwalk Savings Society by having a '"run," precipitat- 
ed by the thoughtless attempt at wit on the part of a local 
newspaper. In the rear of the Street Railway barn was a 
high mound v.'hich had furnished the building sand of 
Norwalk for several years and was believed to contain 
a further abundant supply. Without previous indication 
the sand was exhausted and cobbles only were found. 
The local paper, departing from its usual course of re- 
cording the sickness of Mrs. Smith's child or the paint- 
ing of Brown's rear fence, essayed a "scoop" on the sand- 
bank incident and announced that the managers of the 
oldest bank in town were astounded to discover that their 
reserved deposits, which they believed to be good were 
on examination found to be worthless. The explanation 
that the statement referred to a sandbank was never read 
bv many bank depositors, but grabbing their books, 
they dem.anded payment from the old Norwalk Savings 
Society. To the credit of the paper it must be 
said that every effort was made by it to overcome the ill 
effects of its silly joke. Unauthorized statements and 



263 



injudicious news items have in other cases and in other 
papers done harm to the business interests of Norwalk, 
even where every wish of the pubHshers was for the 
growth of the industry referred to. 

The Norwalk Savings Society was chartered by the 
Slate of Connecticut in 1849. '^^e corporators were 



Clark Eissell, 
Edw. C. Bissell, 
Thomas B. Butler, 
Chas. C. Betts, 
EH B. Bennett, 
Algernon E. Beard, 
Wm. H. Benedict, 
Stiles Curtis, 
Josiah M. Carter, 
Jonathan Camp, Jr., 
Thomas C. Hanford, 
Joseph W. Hubbell, 
Charles Isaacs, 



Gould D. Jennings, 
William K. James, 
Charles Mallory, 
William S. Lockwood, 
Stephen Olmstead, 
James Reed, 
Stephen Smith, 
Asa E. Smith, 
George St. John, 
William C. Street, 
Charles Thomas, 
John A. Weed. 



Of these Chas. C. Betts is now the only survivor. 

Clark Bissell, was President until 1857, followed by 
W. S. Lockwood until 1871, Wm. C. Street until 1878, 
E. P. Weed until t88o, Wm. B. E. Lockwood until 1889, 
and George M. Holmes, the present incumbent. 

T. Warner, Jr., 1849-1856, Joseph W. Hubbell 1856- 
1870, and George E. Miller have held the offices of Sec- 
retary and Treasurer. 

The piesent banking rooms in the United Bank 
Building were opened in 1868. Thirty dollars was the 
first deposit, followed in successive years by the mighty 
accumulation of $2,664,000. 

The Fairfield County Savings Bank was chartered in 
1874, the incorporators of Norwalk being: 



Wm. K. James, 
Asa E. Smith, 
Eli B Bennett, 
Joseph W Hubbell, 
Samuel Lynes, 
Winfield S. Moody, 
Thomas Merrill, 
Thos. H. Morison, 
Alfred H. Camp, 
Evert Quintard, 
Bradley O. Banks, 
Edward W. Stewart, 



Elbert Curtis, 
Wm. A. Lockwood, 
Chas. H. Street, 
Martin S. Craw, 
Edward Merrill, 
Joseph O. Randle, 
Henry F. Guthrie, 
Augustus C. Golding, 
Chas. Olmstead, 
Samuel Beatty, 
Thomas I. Stout, 
of Norwalk ; 



264 



Edward H. Nash, of Westport; George A. Daven- 
port and Samuel Morehouse, of Wilton ; and Noah W. 
lloyt, of New Canaan. 

The first officers were William K. James, President, 
Samuel Lynes, Vice-President and Charles H. Sweet, 
Secretary and Treasurer. 

The Bank began business on the first day of Oc- 
tober, 1874. in the rooms with the Fairfield County Na- 
tional Bank. The rapidly increasing business of the 
bank made it necessary in 1890 to find a home by itself, 
and consequently an arrangement was entered into with 
The National Bank of Norwalk to enlarge their building 
and lease the westerly half of it. Since this change the 
assets as well as the surplus of the bank have more than 
doubled. Fiftv-three semi-annual dividends have been 
paid, the first amounting to $580.11 and the last $15,299.- 
44. Six per cent, was paid until Oct. 1877, when the 
rate was reduced to five, which was paid for two years. 
Tn Oct. 1870, a four per cent, rate was made which, save 
for two exceptions (1880 and 1884 — 4^ per cent, each,) 
was paid until April i, 1899; since then 3^ per cent, has 
been paid. 

Wm. K. James continued to serve as President until 
his death in Septem.ber, 1877, ^^^ was succeeded by Dr. 
Samuel Lynes v/ho was followed by Winfield S. Moody, 
and at his death by Judge Asa B. Woodword, the present 
incumbent. 

Dr. Jam.es G. Gregory is Vice-President. Mr. 
Street served as Secretary and Treasurer for six years 
and was succeeded by Lester S. Cole who held office un- 
til 1888. Jam.es H. Bailey was his successor and in 1896 
died while in the service. Victor S. Selleck was chosen 
to succeed him and is still in office. 

The bank from a small beginning has grown until 
now its assets are nearly $1,000,000.00. 

The South Norwalk Savings bank was originally in- 
corporated June 23, i860, under the name of "The Me- 
chanics Savings Society,*' with the following named gen- 
tlemen as incorporators: 

Eben Hill, Nathan C. Ely, 

Daniel K. Nash, Chas. Brown, 

L. H. Moore, C. N. Case, 

John A. Weed, Alfred Tryon, 

Chas. B. White, Chester F. ToUes, 

John J Cape, Frank H. Nash, 

865 



Moses B. Pardee, Burr Knapp, 

Thomas L. Peck, George Seymour, 

David R. Austin, H. H. Elwell, 

Fred'k Bclden, Wm. H. Benedict, 

Gould Benedict, Thos. R. Griffiths, 

Davis Hatch. Lorenzo Dibble, 
John Plutchins. 

On Tune 17th, 1869, the name, by act of the Legis- 
lature, was changed to "The South Norwalk Savings 
Bank." 

The first officers, Daniel K. Nash, President, A. E. 
Beard, Vice President ; Chester F. ToUes, Secretary and 
Treasurer, and Managers, Eben Hill, John A. Weed, 
Thos. L. Peck, Chas. B. White, F. H. Nash, Frederick 
Belden, L. Dibble, L. H. Moore, M. B. Pardee, Thos. B. 
Griffiths, Geo. Seymour, H. H. Elwell, Alfred Knapp, 
Wm. H. Benedict and H. M. Prowitt, were elected July 
•8, i860. All of the above, both corporators and officers, 
are now dead, Chester F. Tolles being the last one to go. 

The first deposit was made about October i, i860. 

From the time of opening the bank for business un- 
til about October i, 1868, deposits were taken at the 
office of Chester F. Tolles and also at what was then the 
Bank of No'rwalk, now the National Bank of Norwalk. 
The first interest to depositors was paid January i, 1861, 
at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, and interest has been 
paid regularly each six months. The interest paid July 
I. 1901, made the total amount of interest paid since or- 
ganization $5x6,253.18. 

From about October i, 1868, to about May i, 1875, 
fmsiness was done in the drug store of Thos. L. Peck, 
No. 14 North Main street, and about May i, 1871, mov- 
ed to the Fairfield Fire Insurance Company's building on 
South Main street. On the morning of May 17, 1875, 
^he Fairfield Fire Insurance building was destroyed by 
fire and many papers and records of the bank were lost. 
The bank opened for business the next day in the Music 
Hall block, remaining there until the new building of the 
Fairfield Fire Insurance Company was completed, when 
it was moved back into its old quarters. 

In March, 1877. the bank was moved from the In- 
surance Company's building to No. 38 Washington 
street, where it continued until April 12th, 1882, when it 
moved into No. 68 Washington street with the City Na- 
tional Bank, 



On November 26, 1895, in connection with the City 
National Bank, the property No. Q7 and 99 Washington 
street, was bought and the building known as the United 
Bank building was erected; on April 4, 1898, moved 
into its pleasant quarters in the new building, which are 
fitted up with modern steel burglar and fire-proof vaults 
and all the conveniences of a modern bank. 

The officers from the date of organization until the 
present time, and their term of office are as follows: 

Daniel K. Nash, President, 1860-1865. 

A. E. Beard, Vice President, i860- 1864. 

C. P". ToUes, Secretary and Treasurer, 1860-1865. 
Vice President, 1865-1866, and Secretary and Treasurer, 
1S66-1868. 

L. H. Moore, Vice President, 1864- 1865. 

Wm. H. Benedict, President, 1865-1877. 

S. E. Foote, Secretary and Treasurer, 1865- 1866. 

Dudley P. Ely, Vice President, 1866-1877. Presi- 
dent, 1877-1886. 

W. S. Hanford, Secretary and Treasurer, 1868-1877. 

Alden Solmans, Vice President, 1877-1886, and 
President from 1886 to the present time. 

John H. Ferris, Vice President, 1886. 

John H. Knapp, Secretary and Treasurer, 1877- 
1898. 

Geo. F. Bearse, Secretary and Treasurer, since April 
5, 1898. 

The present officers are Alden Solmans, President ; 
John H. Ferris, Vice President; George F. Bearse, Sec- 
retary and Treasurer. 

The managers are Alden Solmans, John H. Knapp, 
Henry I. Smith, John H. Ferris, Edward Beard, John H. 
Light, Josiah R. Marvin, Geo. F. Bearse and Henry Sey- 
mour. 

The total deposits at the present time are $1,064,- 
056.78 and surplus $60,000.00. 



267 



ST. PAUL'S CHURCH 




HIS is the second oldest ecclesiastical 
organization in Norwalk. As early as 
1729 there appears to have been de- 
sultory Episcopal services holden in 
Norwalk. Rev. Henry Caner of Fair- 
field, was probably the first clergyman 
known to have here officiated. His 
incumbency dates from 1737, at which 
period the worship of the Episcopal church seems to 
have been celebrated in a small and temporary frame 
structure which stood on the extreme northeasterly por- 
tion of the present St. l^aul's grounds on Newtown ave- 
nue. This structure seems to have served the parish 
purpose until 1742, when the building, afterward de- 
stroyed by Tryon, was erected. Rev. Henry Caner was 
succeeded by his brother Richard, who remained for sev- 
eral years at the head of the parish. In 1758 St. Paul's 
called Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Leaning to the rectorship. Pre- 
vious to this date there had been, since the days of the 
' two Caners, transient supervision of the cure, but now 
was commenced a twenty years regular and uninterrupt- 
ed pastoral charge which terminated with the burning of 
the town, by the British, in 1779. Dr. Leanmg, a learn- 
ed man, was succeeded by the Rev. Ebenezer Dibblee, 
D.D., of Stamford. Dr. Dibblee was rector of St. John's 
church in Stamford and he kept Norwalk, in a measure, 
under his ward. In 1784 Dr. John Bowden, a scholarly 
divine, held the position of rector ior several years. A 
new church edifice rose over the ashes of the temple 
burned in 1779, which building stood until 1840, when 
it was supplanted by the well preserved Gothic edifice 
of 1901. After Dr. Bowden came Rev. Mr. Toole of 
more eastern New England then Rev. George Ogilvie, 
who was followed by Dr. William Smith, an earnest and 
an intellectual man who' remained toward four years in 
Norwalk. 

In 1800 the beloved Henry Whitlock was called to 
the pastorate and some sixteen or so years later Rev. 
Reuben Sherwood, D.D., of Fairfield. Dr. Sherwood's 
care of the parish was preceded by the temporary shep- 
herding of dififerent pastors. He was an active man and 
maintained, in connection with his ministerial work, a 

868 



fine school which drew quite a patronage from out of 
town. In 1830, Rev. Henry S. Atwater had charge for a 
brief season, of St. Paul's, and then came the saintly Dr. 
Jackson Kemper, afterward the Bishop of what was term- 
ed the "North West." James C. Richmond held the 
parish for a few months, when Rev. William Cooper 
Mead, D.D., assumed in 1836, a nearly forty-four years' 
charge. Drs. Kemper and Mead did efficient duty at 
St. Paul's and left an impression that deserved to re- 
main. Evangelical, conservative, safe, sound, their work 
and their influence told. After Dr. Mead came Revs. C. 
M, Selleck, Howard S. Clopp, S. T. Graham, S. H. Pond 
and I. Morris Coer. 

OTHER CHURCHES. 

Swedish Bethlehem Congregational Church, East 
Norwalk. — Organized 1890 by Rev. J. A. Biddle. Pas- 
tor, Rev. Olof Dahlgren. President, John Lindholm. 
Secretary, Miss Anna Carlson. Treasurer, Erik A. An- 
derson. 

German Evangelical Lutheran Church.-— Organized 
1892 by Rev. Otto Apitz. Services held in the old Con- 
gregational chapel on North Main street. Pastor, Rev. 
Theodor Bauck. Trustees, A. Malmo, F. Syring, G. 
Geist, H. Zeorges, F. Spitze, K. Gehrmann, W Gehr- 
mann, Gustav E. Friedrich. 

Rowayton Baptist Church. — Organized in 1861. 
Present membership, 85. Pastor, Rev. Frank Brown. 

Methodist Episcopal Church, Rowayton. — Organ- 
ized 1868. Pastor, Rev. H. E. Wing. Membership, 107. 

West Norwalk Methodist Mission. — Organized 
1894. President, Thomas J. Mead. Secretary, John H. 
Selleck. Treasurer, Henry T. Burtis. 

African Methodist Episcopal Church.- — Organized 
April, 1886. Pastor, Rev. Cain P. Cole. Building on 
Knight street, Norwalk. 

Calvary Baptist Church (Colored). — Organized Nov. 
30, 1891. Butler street, Norwalk. Pastor, Rev. D. C. 
Thomas. Membership, 30. 

Christian Union Association, West Norwalk. — Or- 
ganized March, 1866. President, F. A. Keyser. Treas- 
urer, Edwin Johnson. Secretary, F. D. Stevens. Super- 
intendent of Sunday School, Mrs. F. Griffin. 

Christian Union Church Society, Cranbury. — Or- 
ganized 1880. President, W. F. Fillow, Treasurer, D. 
A. Fillow. Clerk, W. T. Gregory. 

269 



Brookside Chapel Association, Rowayton. — Presi- 
dent, Samuel R. Weed. Treasurer, Miss Mary J. Ray- 
mond. Clerk, W. H. Tristram. 

Broad River Branch, Reorganized Church of Jesus 
Christ, Latter Day Saints. — Organized August, 1896. 
President, Elder A. E. Stone. Priest, William Hobson. 
Teacher, Homer Buttery. Deacon, Julius Cable. Clerk, 
Judson Cable. Treasurer, Mrs. Rufus Buttery. 

Beth Israel Society. — Services are held in Ray- 
mond's Hall, 139 Washington street. Secretary, D. Gott- 
lieb. Treasurer, T. Slowsynsky. 

Advent Christian Church. — On the evening of April 
2 1 St, 1877, F. S, Ainsworth, John Bedient, Eliza Eedient, 
Orson Stannard, Elizabeth Stannard, William PI. Wil- 
cox, Fannie Wilcox, Alfred Hall, Everett E. Wheeler, 
vSamuel Smith, Alfred Z. Broadhurst, Mrs. Antoinette 
Byxbee, Miss Nettie Byxbee, William Knapp and Elder 
G. L. White of Bristol, Ct., who had embraced the doc- 
trine of the soon personal coming of Christ to this earth 
again, met in the kitchen of the home of Mr. and Mrs. 
Stannard, comer of EHzabeth and Day streets. South 
Norwalk, to consider the matter of organizing a church 
for the propagation of this and kindred doctrines. Previ- 
ous to this time, meetings had been held at irregular in- 
tervals, in various places, the services being conducted 
by itinerent preachers. Elder White was chosen chair- 
man and F. S. Ainsworth clerk. 

On motion, it was regularly voted that the meeting 
proceed to organize, which was accordingly done. A 
confession and covenant was presented by F. S. Ains- 
worth and duly adopted; also a form of church govern- 
ment. Orson Stannard was elected deacon, F. S. Ains- 
worth secretary and Everett E. Wheeler treasurer. The 
old "Mihtary Hall," in the Ely block, was engaged for 
meeting purposes. From time to time the place for 
holding meetings was changed until in the early part of 
the year 1887. 

The matter of buying a lot and building a chapel 
was discussed and subscriptions solicited for this purpose. 
Beside the members of the church many friends in and 
out of town were among the subscribers. It being ap- 
parent that in order to hold property, a society must be 
formed, the Advent Christian Society, composed of mem- 
bers of the church, was organized Oct. 30, 1887, and a 
lot on the comer of Van Zandt avenue and Harvey street, 
East Norwalk, was purchased from Mrs. Richard Parme- 

270 



lee, and the present chapel was erected and dedicated in 
August, 1888. 

In November of the same year, Rev. H. H. Tucker 
accepted a call and became its first settled pastor, con- 
tinuing until August, 1892. Under his labors the church 
prospered and accessions were numerous. In August, 
1892, his relation to the church as pastor was dissolved. 

In December of the same year the Rev. G.L.Teeple 
accepted a call and became its second pastor, remaining 
until September, 1895. About this time the Advent 
Christian Conference of Connecticut ordained Francis S. 
Ainsworth, of East Norwalk, (one of the founders of the 
church and one who had continued his association with 
it from its birth), to the ministry ; and a call was extended 
to him to become its pastor. Mr. Ainsworth accepted 
the call and served the church very acceptably for about 
four years. Desiring to be relieved, as he was engaged 
in other business, and making known his desire to the 
church, the present pastor. Rev. James W. Davis, was 
called and is now in the third year of service. The church 
is in a good healthy condition with a membership of 95, 
new members being added from time to time. 

The present officers are: F. S. Ainsworth, First Dea- 
con. W. C. Byxbee, Second Deacon. Mrs. Richard 
Bland, First Deaconess. Mrs. James Evenden, Jr., Sec- 
ond Deaconess. Stephen W. Velsor, Secretary. James 
Evenden, Jr., Treasurer. 

South Norwalk Baptist Church.— The church was 
organized on May 5th, 1859, at the residence of John L. 
Burbank, on South Main street. Mr. and "Mrs. Burbank 
were deeply interested in their church, and their home 
was bequeathed by them for a Baptist parsonage, nearly 
forty years after the church was organized within its 
walls. At that meeting were David L. Burbank, Charles 
T. Raymond, Jane Burbank, Harriet T. Raymond, John 
L. Burbank, Andrew Morgan, Hannah M. Burbank, 
Mrs. Andrew Morgan, Maria Roberts, Manning Decker, 
Anna N. Root, Selleck Roberts, Mrs. Taimer Morgan, 
Anna E. Latin, Andrew J. Crofut, Francis Gregory, 
Jenette Crofut, Catherine Law, L. D. Gowen and Jos- 
ephine Erickson. This handful of people were the charter 
members of the church. The Rev. L. D. Gowen was 
chosen pastor at this meeting and the first services were 
held in Smith's Hall, which is now Tilly's carriage fac- 
tory, on May 22, 1859. At that time Sunday School was 
held at 9 a. m. and prayer meeting at 10. 



271 



Preaching services were then held at 2 o'clock in the 
afternoon and at 7:30 in the evening. Charles T. Ray- 
mond was the first deacon of the church. A council of 
churches was held in Smith's hall, on May 31, 1859, to 
consider the matter of recognizing the church as a sep- 
arate body of Christ. The council met again on June 
29th of the same year and made the church a separate 
and recognized organization. 

The first communion was held on the 3d of July fol- 
lowing. The first members taken into the new church 
by baptism were Miss Sarah A. Morgan and Clara 
Thompson, who were received November 14, 1859. The 
Rev. S. D. Gowen resigned February 27, 1861, and was 
succeeded by the Rev. William F. Fagan, who was pastor 
until ill health caused him to resign. A temporary place 
of worship called the Baptist Tabernacle was completed 
shortly before Mr. Fagan's advent as pastor of the 
church. That building is now occupied by William Pod- 
more, on North Main street, on the site of the present 
church edifice, on West avenue. 

Following Mr. Fagan came Rev. William M. Ross, 
who was ordained by the church council, January 21, 
1863. He resigned in May, 1865, and was succeeded by 
Rev. Charles G. Swan, who was ordained October loth 
of that year. Mr. Swan resigned in October, 1867, and 
was followed by Rev. John Davies. Andrew J. Thomp- 
son was elected a deacon of the church on July 9, 1868, 
and is still in the office, which makes him the oldest offi- 
cer in the church. 

Rev. Mr. Davies resigned February 11, 1872, leaving 
the church with a membership of 204 persons. Rev. Mr. 
Patterson was pulpit supply for six months, but declined 
a permanent call. Rev. James M. Taylor served as pastor 
from February, 1873, to December, 1881. During his 
pastorate the matter of a new building was agitated. Rev. 
J. Wolfenden was pastor of the church from April, 1882, 
to January, 1884, when Rev. A. S. Gumbart became pas- 
tor and served until 1885, when he resigned shortly after 
the new church was built. 

Rev. H. A. Delano ministered to the church from 
December, 1885, to June 30, 1889, and he also resigned. 
Rev. Archibald Wheaton had charge from December of 
the latter year to November ist, 1892, when he tendered 
his resignation. Rev. R. O. Sherwood entered on his 
duties as minister in July, 1893, and continued in the 
capacity until November, 1898. Rev, W. H. Hubbard 

»7a 



succeeded Mr. Sherwood and is still pastor, having ac- 
complished much in the upbuilding and strengthening of 
the church since he came to South Norwalk. 

The present membership of the church is 320 and 
the organization is free from debt. 

Hungarian Reformed Church. — The Hungarian Re- 
formed Church was organized in April, 1893, with be- 
tween seventy and eighty members, who met in the 
Methodist Church until, in 1896, Rev. Gabriel Dokus 
was appointed pastor by the Board of Foreign Missions. 
Under his direction a church building was erected with 
a school room in which the children of the parish are 
gathered for instruction, not only on Sundays, but on 
week days as well during the summer. A parsonage was 
erected recently at a cost of $1,400. There are now about 
130 members of the church. Services are held three 
Sundays in a month, the pastor being called elsewhere 
for mission Avork on the remaining Sunday. The hours 
of service are at 11:30 and 4:30 on Sunday and 7:30 on 
Thursday evening of each week. The church officers 
are: Pastor, Rev. Gabriel Dokus; treasurer, Joseph 
Soltess ; secretary, Julius Gonce. 

Hungarian Congregational Church. — In 1889 a little 
Hungarian girl was killed by a train at Springwood. The 
grief of her mother brought to Mr. H. O. Bailey a desire 
for some means of consoling her in her own language ; 
and with it a realization that the Hungarian population 
of the town had no religious services, while many of 
these people could not understand EngHsh. Mr. Bailey 
asked Miss Piatt, president of the Ladies' Missionary 
Society of the South Norwalk Congregational Church, 
what could be done for these people; and, at her request. 
Miss Lucy Green wrote to Dr. H. A. Schauffler, of 
Cleveland, Ohio, Superintendent of Missions among the 
foreign population in this country, asking if a Bible 
reader who spoke Hungarian could be sent to Norwalk. 
Miss Piatt also asked the Secretary of the Congregational 
Missionary Society of Connecticut if he had a missionary 
to send to these Hungarians, and received the answer 
that there was not one Hungarian missionary in Connec- 
ticut though there were 10,000 people of that nationality, 
and he knew of but one in the United States. 

Dr. Schauffler's answer was the same, but he sug- 
gested that a young Slav had been converted in Brad- 
dock, Pennsylvania, by the Pittsburg missionary referred 
to as the solitary Hungarian missionary, and suggested 

273 



that thi-: man, John Petro, who spoke Hungarian, might 
be useful in Norwalk. Through the efforts of the Ladies' 
Missionary Society, Mr. H.O. Bailey and Dr. M. Clifford 
Pardee, $80 was raised. The Hungarian people became 
interested, too, in the movement, and they raised $173, to 
add to the fund, which was placed in the hands of Mr. 
Bailey as president of the committee who had the matter 
in charge. In 1892, Rev. Gerald H. Beard became pastor 
of the South Norwalk Congregational Church and he 
v/armiy took up the project of the Hungarian Mission, 
with the result that Mr. Petro was engaged as Bible 
reader to the Hungarians in January, 1893. 

Unfortunately, Mr. Petro was a Slav and his knowl- 
edge of the PTungarian language was limited. He, 
therefore, failed to please many of his hearers, and a 
portion of the original congregation withdrew and 
formed a mission of the American Reformed Church. 

Mr. Pelro worked faithfully under great difficulties 
for a year and a half, securing twelve converts. He also 
conducted l^ible readings in Bridgeport among the Hun- 
garians ; and among the converts there was Bela Basso, 
the present pastor of the Congregational Hungarian 
Mission, who succeeded Mr. Petro as Bible reader in 
1894. In March, 1898, a church organization was ef- 
fected with 34 members ; and in the following September 
Mr. Basso was sent to Oberlin to study for the manistry. 
On his return in the spring of 1901 he was ordained as 
pastor of the little church. During his absence the con- 
gregation was kept together by Mr. Emery Kardos as 
Bible reader. A Young People's Society of Christian 
Endeavor and a Sunday School have been organized, the 
latter having grown from a membership of 21 to 52 
within four months. The church has a membership of 
34 at the present time and is partly supported by the 
South Norwalk Congregational Church and the Connec- 
ticut Home Missionary Society. 

HISTORY FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. 

The First Baptist Church of Norwalk, Conn., was 
organized August 31st, 1837. Delegates representing 
the Weston, Danbury, Stamford, Stratfield and Redding 
Baptist Churches assembled in the First Congregational 
Church of Norwalk and effected the organization. Many 
of the charter members belonged to the Wilton Church, 
which church disbanded at this time. Rev. William H. 

274 



Card was called to preside as pastor but at this state 
Rev. Wm. Bowen supplied the pulpit. 

Andrew Turney and Noah Weed were elected dea- 
cons. Alonzo C. Arnold was elected church clerk. 

The charter members were: Noah Weed, William 
Wakeman, Andrew Turney, Josiah Raymond, Alonzo C. 
Arnold, Abbey Fitch, Betsey Gaylor, Elizabeth Mills, 
Sarah Stevens, Catherine Fitch, Charity Smallhorn, 
Mary Knapp, Emily Knapp, Hannah Knapp, Julia 
Burchard. 

For a time the people worshipped in the Academy 
building, which stood about fifty feet north of the present 
Band Stand, in the centre of the Green. This building 
was moved to the west end of Lewis street and is now 
occupied as a dwelling house. Soon the church nioved 
to the elegant and spacious building on Mill Hill known 
as the Town House. 

Owing to the deep-seated prejudice against all Bap- 
tists, a prejudice which at that time was quite general 
throughout New England, the church experienced no 
little difficulty in securing a lot upon which to build a 
church edifice. It was only by strategy, and through a 
third party, who transferred it to the church, that a plot 
of ground was finally secured, where the present build- 
ing now stands. This building was erected in 1839 and 
dedicated in March, 1840. Immediately following the 
dedication, a revival began, which resulted in numerous 
accessions to the membership. In 1870 the building was 
renovated and refurnished throughout, at a cost of 
$1,400.00. At the time this church was organized there 
were no public conveyances. The members residing in 
Winnipauk chartered a carry-all, as a private conveyance, 
which carried a full load to and from church services. 
Mr. Charles T. Raymond's family were regular in at- 
tendance though they were obliged to walk from Flax 
Hill- Mr. Moultons, of Saugatuck (now Westport), also 
walked to church. Susan Moulton married McMaster, 
the founder of McMaster's University, of Toronto, and 
of the Moulton Female Seminary. Another daughter 
married the Rev. James Scott, of Stratfield Baptist 
Church. Cottage prayer meetings were held in houses 
all over the town, South Norwalk members walking to 
the services, up a shore-path, by way of Pine Island and 
Water street. David Burbank's family came all the v/ay 
from Belden's Point to the meetings. 

Deacon Weed, of New Canaan, was a regular at- 

275 



tendant at all services, rarely missing the monthly cov- 
enant meeting, held on Saturday afternoons. A pecu- 
liarity of the deacon's was that he wore his hair combed 
forward over the top of his head, braided and tied with 
a shoe-string. 

The church seemed to have reached the zenith of 
prosperity under the pastorate of Rev. L. D. Gowan, 
from 1856 to 1859. The pastor's salary at this period 
was $500.00 and the sexton's $25.00, and it was a difficult 
task to raise, what seemed at that time, to be a great 
amount of money. 

About this time H. M. Prowitt, the choir master, 
introduced into the service a "melodien," which created a 
good deal of gossip, many members disapproving of such 
worldliness. Heretofore a tuning fork and bass viol had 
been the only instruments. The chorus choir was com- 
posed of volunteers, who furnished their own music and 
books. 

The Sunday School flourished for more than a 
quarter of a century under the efficient superintendency 
of James L. Ambler. Miss M. A. Hyatt conducted the 
primary department for about thirty years. 

Rev. J. Ellis, of New York city, joined the church 
in 1842, and during J. L. Woolsey's pastorate frequently 
assisted in the services. On one occasion he thus com- 
mented on Rev. Lindsey Woolsey's sermon: "You have 
all heard the sermon, if sermon it may be called. For my 
part, I call it 'a reasonable service,' a sort of Linsey 
Woolsey address." 

The following named pastors have from 1838 to 
1902 served this church: 

Rev. William H. Card, 1838 to '39. 

Rev. J. L. Woolsey, 1840 to '47. 

Rev. J. Chaflin, 1847 to '50. 

Rev. W. Broughton, 1850 to '51. 

Rev. J. L. Woolsey, 185 1 to '53. 

Rev. W. C. Wyatt, 1853 to '56. 

Rev. L. D. Gowa,n 1856 to '59. 

Rev. G. W. Lasher. 1859 to '61. 

Rev. O. W. Gates, 1861 to '73. 

Rev. E. D. Bentley, 1873 to '82. 

Rev. W. E. Wright, January to October, 1882. 

Rev. R. McGonegal, 1882 to '86. 

Rev. C. E. Torrey, 1886 to '90. 

Rev. F. E. Robbins, 1891 to '98. 

Rev. Dr. W. Talmage Van Doren, 1899 to the pres- 

276 



ent time. During this period, although the mother 
church has given of her membership to form four Baptist 
churches, she has grown from 15 to 280 members. The 
pastorates of Woolsey, Gates, Bentley, Torrey and Rob- 
bins were especially marked by the addition to the 
church of many converts. At this date (December, 1901), 
the church is growing in membership and in influence. 
New furnaces have been put in the building, and the ses- 
sion and class rooms have been redecorated and re- 
furnished. The yearly expense of conducting the 
church ($2,500), is promptly provided for, and the ser- 
vices are largely attended and of deep religious interest. 
The Pastor's Bible Class numbers 85 adult members. 
The "Circle of Light," a band of consecrated Christians, 
led by the pastor, numbers 173 members. With Sunday 
School and all other church adjuncts in a flourishing 
condition, and with frequent additions to the member- 
ship by baptism, the church has every reason to thank 
God for all the way that He has led His people. 




277 



OYSTER INDUSTRY 




MONG the many industries of the busy 
thriving town of Norsvalk that have 
made marvellous strides in growth and 
development in the last half century, 
there is not one that so excites our 
admiration and astonishment as the 
wonderful growth of the oyster indus- 
try. And this interest that is rapidly 
extending over all the waters of the State promises to 
put (Jonnecticut at the fore-front of the oyster producing 
states of the Union in the near future ; and the oyster 
planters of Norwalk can with pardonable pride point to 
the fact that the system that has produced such astound- 
ing results originated in Norwalk. Long years ago, be- 
fore the white man came to these shores, while the race 
was still young, the red man gathered in his summer vil- 
lages along the shores of Norwalk. The smoke of his 
wigwam might have been seen on the banks of the 
Rowalton River at Wilson's Cove, Village Creek and 
Gregory's Point; and the shell mounds at these places 
disclosed the fact that oysters and clams entered largely 
in the menu of those days. 

When two hundred and fifty years ago the white 
man appeared, he was not slow to learn from his savage 
brother the value of the oysters and clams that grew near 
the shores of our town ; and not only on the shores of the 
main land, but out among the romantic and picturesque 
islands that like jeweled settings dot the water front of 
Norwalk The waters teemed with its wealth of shell- 
fish ; and it was here that the early settlers found a very 
large part of their food supply. 

As the years passed on and the population increased 
the natural beds failed to respond to the increased de- 
mand, so that less than fifty years ago oystermen began 
to experiment in raising large oysters from the seed 
taken from the natural beds ; and planted it on private 
groLuids, the Legislature of the State meeting the 
changed conditions with wise laws ; so that all the inside 
lands that could be lawfully taken up were speedily 
brought under cultivation ; and the business prospered to 
that degree that the Norwalk oysters were famed for 
their superior qualities far and wide. But the enterpris- 
ing and far seeing oyster-planters of Norwalk could not 

278 



be confined to \he narrow limits of the inside oyster 
lands, so they began to look about for new fields to con- 
quer. In 1870 a few planters went out on Long Island 
Sound ofif Norwalk and took up land and began plant- 
ing. These were the pioneers in artificial propagation of 
oyster spawn. They planted the stool the oysters ad- 
hered, they caught a good set and the venture looked 
promising for a while, but the starfish came on in great 
numbers and destroyed all the beds, but they persevered, 
overcoming every obstacle, surmounting every difficulty, 
they finally climbed to success ; and the results that Nor- 
walk with her fine fleet of oyster steamers, her wharves 
and oyster shipping houses with thousands of acres of 
land under water in cultivation, give but faint conception 
of what has been achieved in the last fifty years. 

It was a citizen of Norwalk that fitted out the first 
steamboat, the forerunenr of the magnificent fleet of 
more than one hundred boats that are owned in the 
State to-day. Some of the very first oysters, if not the 
first, were shipped to England, laying the foundation for 
the splendid export trade of to-day, were raised in 
Norwalk. 

The Norwalk oyster has shown great power of 
adaptation ; it has been transported across the Rocky 
Mountains and planted in the quiet Pacific, and never 
seemed to feel the change ; it has been carried over to 
England, planted in the muddy Thames and in the bays 
of the English Coast, and was just as happy as when in 
its own native waters. 

Norwalk may well be proud of the men who by en- 
terprise and push have given the town the prominence 
and leadership in the development of this great industry. 

— CHAS. W. BELL. 




379 



THE 

I N 



LEGAL 
OLD 



PROFESSION 
N O R W A L K 



m 


j^M 


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N 


m 


^^ 


m 



OR WALK in the past has been the 
home of many distinguished jurists. 
Many more, natives or descended from 
ancestors residing in the ancient town 
of Norwalk, have achieved professional 
eminence in other parts of the State 
and nation, who cannot be sketched or 
even named here. Among Norwalk 
lawvers, not now living, were the following: 

"THOMAS FITCH, a native of Norwalk, grandson 
of one of the original settlers of the same name, was 
graduated at Yale College in 1721. He was educated 
tor the ministry, but turned his attention tO' the law and 
was said by the first President Dwight to be "probably 
the most learned lawyer who had ever been an inhabi- 
tant of the Colony." He was chosen one of the "Assis- 
tants" of the Colony yearly from 1734 to 1846; was 
Deputy Governor from 1750 to 1754, and Governor from 
1754 to 1766; and for four years was chief Judge of the 
Superior Courts. In 1742 he was appointed, with Roger 
Wolcott and Jonathan Trumbull, both afterwards Gov- 
ernors of the Colony, and John Bulkley, afterwards a 
Judge of the Superior Court, to revise the Statutes, and 
had "the principal efficiency" in making the revision of 

1750. 

He was the author of a protest, written at the re- 
quest of the General Court in 1764 and presented to the 
British governmetn, against the power of parliament to 
tax the people of the Colonies without their consent by 
representation therein, stating with great clearness and 
force the grounds on which the independence of the Col- 
onics was afterwards achieved ; and of other noted State 
papers. 

His home was on East avenue, the present (1901) 
residence of Miss Sarah Fitch. He died July 18, 1774. 
Ilis son. Col. Thomas Fitch, was distinguished as a 
soldier and in the Civil service of the Colon}^ 

TAYLOR SHERMAN, son of Judge Daniel Sher- 
man, was born in Woodbury, Conn., in 1758. He mar- 
ried in T787 Elizabeth Stoddard of Woodbury. He was 
admitted to the bar and removed to Norwalk, where he 

X80 



spent the remainder of his life in the practice of the law. 
He was a member of the General Assembly of the State 
in 1794, 1/95 and 1796, and was Judge of Probate for the 
District of Norwalk from the creation of the District in 
1802 until his death. He was Collector of Internal Rev- 
enue for the Second District of Connecticut, under ap- 
pointment from President Madison. He was appointed 
Agent to survey the land in the Western Reserve, con- 
sisting of a half million acres, granted by the State of 
Connecticut to the sufferers by the British devastations 
in the Revolutionary war, and acquired a considerable 
tract of this land, in Sherman township, Huron County, 
Ohio. He was a public spirited citizen, taking an active 
interest in the affairs of the town and community. His 
home was at the southwest comer of Main and Cross 
streets in the present city of Norwalk, in the house now 
standing He died May 15th, 1815. 

CHARLES ROBERT SHERMAN, a son of Tay- 
lor and Elizabeth (Stoddard) Sherman, was born in Nor- 
walk, September 26th, 1788. He studied law in the of- 
fices of his father and of Judge Asa Chapman, and was 
admitted to the bar in 18 10. On May 8th of the same 
year he married Mary Hoyt of Norwalk. In 181 1 he re- 
moved, with his wife and an infant son (Charles Taylor 
vSherman, afterwards Judge of the U. S. District Court) 
to Lancaster, Ohio, where he settled in the practice of his 
profession. In the war of 1812 he was Major of an Ohio 
regiment. At the age of 35 he was appointed Judge of 
the Supreme Court of Ohio, which office he held until his 
death, which occurred June 24, 1829. Among a large 
family of other children, born after his removal to Ohio, 
were Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the U. S. 
Army and Hon. John Sherman, for many years represen- 
tative and senator in Congress, Secretary of the Treasury 
and Secretary of State. 

CLARK BISSELL was born at Lebanon, Conn , 
September 7, 1782; graduated at Yale College in 1806; 
studied law and settled in Norwalk. He married Sally 
Sherwood, daughter of Hon. Samuel Burr Sherwood of 
Fairfield. He was several years Judge of Probate for 
the District of Norwalk, succeeding Judge Taylor Sher- 
man ; member of the Connecticut House of Representa- 
tives in 1829, 1841 and 1850, of the State Senate from the 
old I2th District in 1842 and 1843; Governor of the 

281 



State in 1847, and 1848; and chairman of the Board of 
Presidential Electcrs in Connecticut in 184S. He was a 
Judge of the Superior Court and of the Supreme Court of 
Errors from 1829 to 1839, when he resigned. In 1847 he 
was given the degree of Doctor of Laws by Yale Col- 
lege, and was in the same year made Kent professor of 
law in that institution, which position he held until 1855. 
For several years he was President of the Fairfield 
County Bank, succeeding Henry Belden. He died Sep- 
tember 15th, 1875. He built and occupied the house at 
the corner of East Wall and Park Streets, and his office 
was a smiall building at the Southwest corner of the 
homestead. He was a lawyer of great ability, a wise and 
safe counsellor, and had a large practice. Of his child- 
ren, Rev. vSamuel Burr Sherwood Bissell, Edward C. Bis- 
sell, Mrs. Charles C. Betts and Mrs. Orris S. Ferry 
survived him ; George A. Bissell, also a lawyer, died 
shortly before him, and Arthur H. died in childhood. 

THADDEUS BETTS, a native of Norwalk, son of 
William Maltby and Lucretia (Gregory) Betts, was born 
February 4, 1789; graduated at Yale College in 1807; 
admitted to the bar and always resided in Norwalk, on 
the easterly side of "The Green." He married Antoinette 
Cannon of Norwalk. He was a member of the Connecti- 
cut House of Representatives in 1815 and 1830; of the 
State Senate in 1828 and 183 1 ; and Lieutenant Governor 
of the State in 1832 and 1834. He was elected to the 
United States Senate for the term beginning March 4th, 
1839, ^^^ died in Washington April 8th, 1840. He was 
a man of great talent, ranking among the most powerful 
advocates of the Connecticut bar, and his early death cut 
short what promised to be a conspicuous and influential 
career in the public service. He was the father of Fred- 
erick T. and Charles C. Betts, both now living, and John 
Maltby Betts, who died unmarried in t868. 

THOMAS BELDEN BUTLER, son of Frederick 
and Mary (Belden) Butler, was born at Wethersfield, 
August 22d, 1806. He was educated as a physician, 
graduating at the Medical Department of Yale College 
in 1828. He settled and practiced medicine for several 
years at Norwalk. He soon determined to adopt the 
legal profession, studied law and was admitted to the bar 
in 1837. He was a member of the Connecticut House of 
Representatives in 1832, 1833, 1837, 1843 and 1846; of 

362 



the State Senate in 1838, 1839, 1848, 1852 and 1853, and 
Representative in Congress from 1849 ^o 185 1. He was 
Judge of Probate from 1848 to 1849, ^nd States Attorney 
for several years. In 1855 ^^ was appointed a Judge of 
the Superior Court; in 1861 a Judge of the Supreme 
Court of Errors, and in 1870 Chief Justice of that Court, 
which office he resigned a few days before his death. He 
married Mary Philhps Crosby of Norwalk, but had no 
children. His home was on West Avenue, the house 
now occupied by the Central Club. He died June 8th, 

1873. 

Judge Butler was fond of scientific studies, especially 
of meterology, on which he published two books, entitled 
"Philosophy of the Weather," and "The Atmospheric 
System as God Made It." He had much mechanical 
skill, and made several ingenious inventions ; one a com- 
plicated machine for crossing the wool in felt cloth, was 
successfully employed in the manufacture of felt goods. 

He was an enthusiastic farmer. Pie nad an acute 
and discriminating mind, was ambitious of distinction as 
a Judge and his judicial opinions were carefully and 
thoroughly prepared. He was especially distinguished 
among legal writers for his concise and exact definition 
of legal terms. 

THOMAS ROBINSON, a member of the Fairfield 
County Bar, was graduated at Yale College in 182S ; set- 
tled in the practice of law at Fairfield, and m.arried Eliza 
P. Dimon of that place, a sister of the late Frederick 
Dimon of Norwalk. He removed to Norwalk in 1847, 
built and occupied the house on West Avenue, now the 
homestead of Oliver E. Wilson, and resided there until 
his death, which occurred in 1853. ^^ was a lawyer of 
ability and prominence ; was for seven years clerk of the 
Superior Court ; was representative from Fairfield in the 
Connecticut legislature in 1843 ^i^d 1S46, and from Nor- 
walk in 1852. He left no children. 

JOSIAH MASON CARTER was bom in Ncav 
Canaan, June 13th, 1813; graduated with distinguished 
honor at Yale College in 1836, and was admitted to the 
bar in 1839. He began the practice of law in New York, 
but removed to Norwalk in 1847 and formed a partner- 
ship with Thomas B. Butler, which continued until Mr. 
Butler was appointed Judge of the Superior Court in 
1855. He was a representative from Norwalk in the 

283 



General Assembly in 1857, 1861 and 1862, and in the last 
year was Speaker of the House. He was the nominee 
of his party for Lieutenant Governor in 1856, but the 
ticket was not successful. He was State's Attorney for 
the County of Fairfield from 1862 until his death, which 
occurred March 21, 1868. 

He married Julia Ayrcs of New Canaan, and built 
and occupied until his decease the house nov; the home- 
stead of Levi C. Hanford. One of his daughters, now 
deceased, was the mother of Hubert E. Bishop of Nor- 
walk, and another married Prof. Alexander Johnston, the 
eminent political writer and historian. Mr. Carter was 
a thorough, exact and painstaking lawyer, and had an 
extensive practice. 

TIMOTHY TAYLOR MERWIN, son of Rev. 
Samuel Merwin, was graduated at Yale College in 1827, 
admitted to the bar and practiced for some years in Nor- 
walk. He represented the town in the General Assembly 
in 1838 and was Clerk of the Superior Court from 1839 
to 1842. He removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., and retired 
from practice. He died in 1885. He married Hannah 
B. White, daughter of Col. E. Moss White of Danbury. 

GEORGE A. DAVENPORT was bom in Wilton, 
January 21st, 1808. He studied law at Yale College, was 
admitted to the bar and practiced in Norwalk. He was 
for a short time a partner of Judge Butler. He seldom 
appeared in the Courts, and in his later life never. He 
was an oihce lawyer, devoting his time chiefly to con- 
veyancing, drafting of wills, contracts and the giving of 
legal advice, and had no superior in the conscientious 
accuracy of all his work. He was thoroughly grounded 
in elementary and probate law, and will be longest 
remembered as Judge of Probate for the District of Nor- 
walk, which office he filled with conspicuous ability for 
thirty years. He married Mary Sturges, daughter of 
Erastus Sturges, Esq., of Wilton. He died January 13th, 
1894, leaving six children, of whom three are able and 
prominent lawyers, viz., Benjamin Davenport of Minne- 
apolis, Minnesota ; Daniel Davenport of Bridgeport, and 
Timothy Davenport of New York City. 

ISAAC MOREHOUSE STURGES, son of Erastus 
Sturges, Esq., a prominent citizen of Wilton, was born 
in that town, within the limits of ancient Norwalk, July 

284 



6, i8o7, and died October 30, 1877. He was admitted to 
the bar in 1837, practiced in Newtown until 1848, and af- 
terwards until his death in Bridgeport, but during the last 
years of his life resided in Wilton. He represented Wil- 
ton in the General Assembly in 1837 and 1876, and New- 
town in 1844. He was Judge of Probate in Newtown in 
1844, and Judge of the City Court of Bridgeport in i860 
and 1861. He was unmarried. He was a man of untir- 
ing industry, extensive legal learning, and devotion to 
the interests of his numerous clients. 

ORRIS SANFORD FERRY, son of Starr Ferry, 
was born in Bethel, August 15th, 1823; graduated at 
Yale College in 1844; studied law in the offices of Hon. 
Thomas B. Osborne at Fairfield and Hon. Thomas B. 
Butler at Norvvalk ; was admitted to the bar in 1846 and 
began practice in Norwalk, where he always afterwards 
resided. In 1849-50 he was Judge of Probate for the 
District of Norwalk ; in 1855 and 1856 he represented the 
1 2th District in the State Senate, and was chairman of 
the Judiciary Committee; and from 1856 to 1859 he was 
State's Attorney for the County of Fairfield. From 1859 
to 1861 he represented the 4th District in Congress. On 
the breaking out of the Civil War he was appointed 
Colonel of the 5th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers ; 
in the following year was made brigadier general, served 
in that capacity through the war, and was brevetted 
major general for meritorious services. He returned to 
the practice of law in 1865, was elected United States 
Senator in 1866 and re-elected in 1872. He died while 
Senator, November 21, 1875. Soon after his admission 
to the bar he married Charlotte C. Bissell, daughter of 
Col. Clark Bissell, who with one daughter, Mary Bissell 
Ferry, survives. His home in his later years was on East 
Avenue, in the house built by himself. He was a man of 
vigorous intellect, an able lawyer, and an orator of great 
power, at the bar, in the Senate, and before popular 
assemblies. He had, in a remarkable degree, the "clear- 
ness, force and earnestness." which according to Webster 
are the qualities that produce conviction ; and with his 
manifest sincerity and high personal character, exercised 
a wide influence among his acquaintance in the commun- 
ity where he lived, and in the national councils. 

NELSON TAYLOR was born in South Norwalk, 
June 8th, 1821, and died there January i6th, 1894. 

285 



When a young lad, he removed with his parents to New 
York City. In the Mexican War he was a captain of 
Volunteers, and was sent with his command to California. 
He remained there several years after the close of the war, 
engaged in business and accumulated a handsome for- 
tune. He then returned East, studied law and was 
admitted to the New York bar. In the war of 1861 he 
again volunteered, was Colonel of a New York Regi- 
ment, and in 1862 was promoted to brigadier general. 
After the war he served one term as representative in 
Congress from New York City. In 1867 he returned 
to South Norwalk and engaged in the practice of law, 
having for several years as a partner his son Nelson Tay- 
lor, Jr. Gen. Taylor was a public-spirited citizen, served 
as a selectman of the town of Norwalk and held other 
important local offices. 

JOSEPH FORWARD FOOTE was bom in South- 
wick, Mass., in 1828; graduated with high honors at 
Yale College in 1850 ; studied law at Norwich with Hon. 
Lafayette S. Foster and at Norwalk with Hon. Orris S. 
Ferry ; was admitted to the bar in 1853, ^"^ practiced 
law in Norwalk until his death, which occurred Decem- 
ber 5th, 1883. He was Executive Secretary under Gov. 
Minor in 1855 and 1856. He practiced but little in the 
courts. He was for many years the justice of the peace 
before whom most of the justice cases, civil and criminal, 
were tried, for several years one of the selectmen of Nor- 
walk, and held numerous other positions of trust. He 
married Jennie Middlebrook, daughter of George B. 
Middlebrook, Esq., but left no children. 

JOSEPH WARREN WILSON was bom in 1827 
at Natick, Massachusetts ; graduated at Yale College in 
1854; taught for a time at the Collegiate and Commer- 
cial Institute in New Haven; studied law in the office 
of Josiah M. Carter, Esq., in Norwalk, and was admitted 
to the bar in 1857. He went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, 
with a view of settling there, but soon returned tO' Nor- 
walk and became a partner of Mr. Carter. He was for 
many years an active and leading member of the Board 
of School Visitors, and held various other local offices. 
He married Miss Julia Phelps of New Haven and laft two 
surviving sons, one of whom is Robert G. Wilson. He 
died February 26, 1887. 

In addition to the above, Roger Minot Sherman, 

286 



afterwards of Fairfield ; David C. Sanford, aftersvards of 
New Milford, and Sidney Burr Beardsley, afterwards of 
Bridgeport, all of whom were eminent at the bar and sub- 
sequently judges of the Supreme Court of Errors, prac- 
ticed for a time in Norwalk ; Israel M. Bullock, who rep- 
resented Norwalk in the General Assembly in 1869, and 
in the same year removed to Bridgeport, where he had a 
successful career, ended too soon 1)y death ; Lewis F. 
Beers, who was representative in the General Assembly 
in 1871, and died eariy in 1872; George R. Cowles, who 
was a member of the bar, but devoted his life to business 
pursuits, represented the town four successive years in 
the legislature, and died, much respected, in 1897. From 
Wilton may be named Charles Jones and Samuel Jones, 
brothers, prominent members of the New York bar, and 
doubtless others of equal rank. 




287 



SOME OLD HOUSES IN NORWALK 



By Angelme Scott. 




LTHOUGH Norwalk is two hundred 
and fifty years old, we may look in vain 
for picturesque relics of its first hun- 
dred years in the shape of quaint 
buildings such as exist in some Massa- 
chusetts towns of similar age. Every- 
thing of that period is gone. General 
Tryon did much, in his historic raid, 
towards obliterating earliest Norwalk, and our spirit of 
modern progress has carried on the work until there is 
almost nothing left of ante-Revolutionary Norwalk. 
There is no evidence to show that any of the one hundred 
and thirty-five houses burned by Tryon in 1779 had any 
architectural pretensions. Even the inhabitants of 
substantial fortunes for the times, and aristocratic con- 
nections, contented themselves with homes of the 
comfortable farmhouse type, with plain gabled roofs, 
shingled sides and a low, sloping lean-to at the rear or 
side of the main building. The doo'rways, often supplied 
with the Dutch doors opening in half, opened directly 
on a broad, rough-hewn stone step, as a rule, while a few 
houses had small porches supported by simple pil/lars, 
with narrow seats on either side. The well is often the 
last vestige of an old homestead. You will notice every- 
where in the country that buildings and gardens and 
fences and dooryard trees disappear from a homestead 
before the well of the "Old Oaken Bucket" gives way, 
In East Norwalk, in the lot next the railroad track, is one 
of the old wells ; that of the Rev. Thomas Hanford, first 
minister of the old First Church, and for forty years a 
leader in town affairs. Here, in Revolutionary days, 
lived Hezekiah Hanford, the soldier father of Grace Han- 
ford who married Capt. Hezekiah Betts. The quaint 
little gray house on the corner of Fitch street, whose yard 
is gay with phlox and tiger-lilies in midsummer, was 
built by Josiah Hanford Fitch. He subsequently 
removed to the Prowitt house across the way, which was 
built for Mr. Fitch early in the century. 

The site is that of the original Marvin home-lot "the 
one nearest the meeting house." 

■ 288 




Founder's Stone, I'^asl Avtnue. 




.^[arvin House, Fitch Street. 




Fountain Smith's Farm, Kast Norwalk. 




Fitch's Point. 




Gov. Thomas Fitch House, East Avenue. 




Home of " Vankcc Doodle." 




Town House. 





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MM 


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^' • V^~ ifiii'iiimiiiMlilrtlil 


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31 


■ 



Grumman's Hill. 



Pausing by the founders' stone, we can see two 
interesting houses on Fitch street. On our right is a 
house built by James Fitch, 3(1, just after the Revolution. 
He was a grand nephew of Gov. Thomas Fitch, a soldier 
of the Revolution and a man of means and influence. 
Quite a notable old house commands the head of the 
street where the old Fairfield Path joins Fitch Point 
Path. It was built by Lieut. Samuel Marvin, on the 
home-lot of one of the first settlers, Thomas Barnum. 
The schoolhouse under the elms is, perhaps, not vener- 
able in age, but it is a relic of the days of the district 
school and the three Rs in Norwalk, and as such is cer- 
tainly picturesque. Of course we shall find no Revolu- 
tionary houses on East avenue, although the lots are all 
historic sites, because this v/as the highway down which 
Tryon's troops marched to Fitch's Point in 1779, and 
not a house escaped the torch of destruction on their way. 
After the war the Government made restitution to the 
sufferers from the fire in grants of land in the Coimecticut 
Western Reserve in Ohio, known in Connecticut history 
as the "Sufferers' Lands," a half inillion acres being dis- 
posed of in this way. An inventory of Fountain Smith's 
losses by Tryon's raid serves to show the contents of a 
house of that period. Probably it is a typical list except- 
ing the material for making barrels. Fountain Smith 
being a cooper. 

FOUNTAIN SMITHS LOSS BY BURNING OF NOR- 
WALK, JULY YE II, 1776. 

£ s. d. 
One house 28 by 26 one story and a half well finished 

below 65 o o 

One shop 20 feat by 18 wide finished 410 o 

Two loads of good English hay two tun 410 o 

One chest of curld Maple Draws 2 o o 

Two square Table one Walnut and one White Wove 100 

Eight Black Chears part Worn o 16 

One Brass Cittle of 30 We i 10 o 

One Large Pott Iron about 4 Gallons o 12 o 

One Large Iron Cittle about 2 Gallons o 6 o 

One pair of Styllards o 3 o 

One Frying Pan o 6 o 

One Small Looking Glass 10 o 

Two good new corn baskets 4 o 

Two good Dutch Whealls at 15 per peas i 10 o 

One Reall o 4 o 

One Large Reall o 6 o 

Two beadsteads and 2 cords at 10 o 12 o 

Two puter plates and 2 porringers o 4 o 

One dozen of Spoons o 2 o 

Two Wooden Beds o 12 o 



Two good pillows filled with Feathers o 8 o 

One Iron Ladel o 3 o 

One Brass Skimmer o 4 o 

Six Butter Tubs at 3 pr. peas 18 o 

One Hundred weight of fish o 19 o 

Three Pork Barrels at 012 o 

One Barrell of Tobacco about 60 We i 10 o 

Two good Sedar Tubs r 10 o 

Twenty-two flax Seead Casks at 1-6-2 5 12 6 

Six Hundred White oak Staves and heading i 10 o 

Eight Sets of Barrells Trushoos i 4 o 

One Thousand Black Oak Sheaves i o o 

Three Sinter Stocks o 9 

Four Hundred Black oak Staves for fox o 9 o 

Seed Casks at 5 pr i o o 

Two Shaving horses o 6 o 

One Hundred hoop poales 4 o 

One Sedar Tub half Barrell o 4 o 

One Churn at 4 pr o 4 o 

One half dozen round bottles o 2 o 

Three athorn pals i Gallon Each o 3 o 

Six wooden boles 2 quarts each o 6 o 

One Bread Tray o 3 o 

One Larg Salt Moter o 6 o 

One Weaned Calf i o o 

Fifteen Geas at 1-6 pr. p i i o 

Two Iron Candlesticks o 3 o 

One half Barrel of Soape o 10 o 

Fifteen pounds of Soap Greass o 3 o 

Six pounds of Tallow at 6 o 3 

One hundred of Chestnut rayls i 10 o 

Thirty weight of Good Flower o 5 6 

Three Large Bee hives at 1-6 o 3 6 

One half hogshead Tub o 3 6 

One half barrel Cask of Vinnegar Barrell and all ... . o 18 o 

One Box Iron o 3 

Two wooden bottles of 3 o 6 o 

Two outside jackets half worne Both Wooling o 15 o 

Six pair of Good pillow bears at 3 pr. pair o i 6 

One large earthern platter o i 6 

One Large Earthen Pan o i 9 

One Cradle White Wood o 16 o 

One pair of hand Bellows o 3 o 

Three Cross stocks for hogsheads 

And 2 Barrell Cows Stocks at 1-6 o 7 6 

The Fountain Smith farm is on Raymond street 
just off from East avenue, near the old schoolhouse. 
Early in the morning of July 11, 1779, Mr. Smith was 
strolling about his door-yard without his coat, enjoying 
the summer air and peaceful landscape. Suddenly he 
was seized from behind and he found himself a prisoner 
in British hands. Being very deaf he had not heard the 
approach of the soldiers up the street, and was taken 

completely unawares. Subsequently Fountain Smith 

290 



was sent to a wretched prison in New York, where many 
patriots suffered ; and he died soon after of hardship, at 
the age of fifty-four. Up the same street, further on, is 
the home of Josiah Raymond, who married Molly Mer- 
wine, of Greenfield Hill, in 1765. 

There are interesting associations connected with 
both the Beard and Earle places, on what was known as 
Meeting House Hill early in the eighteenth century, but 
since nothing here looks as it did then we will pass by 
these traditions and come to the Fitch lands. First is 
the homestead of Thomas Fitch, Governor of the Colony 
of Connecticut, 1754- 1766, whose virtues are set forth 
in a long eulogistic epitaph on the brown table stone 
which marks his tomb in the old East Norwalk burial 
ground. Many of our townspeople trace their ancestry 
to Gov. Fitch, and feel a venerating interest in this home- 
stead. 

The old house, one room of which had served as 
Norwalk's first town clerk's office, was burned ; but the 
kitchen wing of the building was saved, and this remnant 
which was subsequently moved onto the foundation of 
the main house, together with a new addition, constitutes 
the present dwelling. If we search a little we will find 
the old well with green moss-grown stones and its waters 
clear and sparkling as ever. A great elm, one of the 
finest specimens of its race until the beetles killed it, a 
few years ago, was a joy to every passer-by. It was 
planted one hundred and fifty years ago by Gov. Fitch 
himself. Two brothers of Thomas Fitch had homes 
near by. That of Samuel Fitch, a deputy to the Colonial 
Assemblyj has long since disappeared; but a portion of 
James Fitch's home survives in the present residence of 
Oscar Raymond, which was built by Jonathan Fitch early 
in the nineteenth century. At a street on our left which 
runs to Oyster Shell Point, we find a house which once 
belonged to "Yankee Doodle" himself, otherwise known 
as Col. Thomas Fitch. About 1755 Col. Fitch com- 
manded American troops who joined a detachment of 
British regulars in an expedition to Ticonderoga and 
Louisburg. As they marched into Greenbush, where the 
army was quartered, Col. Fitch at the head of his raw- 
looking regiment, a witty Englishman exclaimed, "So 
that's your Yankee Doodle !" and thus the nick-name 
was fastened upon Col. Fitch. The popular song was 
written at about this time by T)r. Schackburgh who was 
attached to the British staff. Written in derision of the 

291 



Americans, it nevertheless was adopted by them with 
much enjoyment, and was a favorite song during the 
Revolutionary War some twenty years later. The G. W. 
Hunter house on the high bank, a little further up the 
avenue, was the Congregational parsonage ninety years 
ago ; and here occurred a historical calamity, the destruc- 
tion of the oldest records of the First church, containing 
the births, and marriages of its early members. The 
precious volumes, stored in a wicker basket in the attic, 
were reduced to rags by rats. Rev. Roswell Swan, pas- 
tor 1807-18 19, died in this house and was buried in the 
Town House Cemetery. The meeting house, which was 
burned in the Revolution with its steeple, bell and broad 
stone steps, stood on the site of Mrs. W. G. Thomas's 
residence. Rev. Mr. Swan's church, which succeeded 
that one, stood on the lower end of the Green until the 
present edifice was built in 1849. -^ ^^^^^ of the old 
church, the lantern which lighted the vestibule, is owned 
by Mr. C. A. Quintard. In this building "Parson Hall" 
preached a little later, under a sounding board hung over 
the high pulpit which was just large enough for the 
preacher ; if a visiting clergyman assisted at service he 
had to sit outside. 

To a broad flat stone under a great elm tree, came 
the carriages of the parishioners from a distance ; among 
them Joseph Marvin's from Westport and Miss Phoebe 
Comstock's from Comstock Hill, accompanied by her 
white-haired slave Onesimus, the last slave held in Con- 
necticut, because he had refused his freedom. For fifty 
years he never missed a Sunday in his place. 

Miss Comstock, or "Aunt Phoebe" as everyone 
called her, might have adopted a certain text in Galatians 
for l^er own, "Rejoice, for the desolate hath more child- 
ren than she which hath a husband"; because, in the 
course of her life, she adopted no less than thirteen boys 
and twenty-six girls, orphans, keeping them until the 
boys were old enough to be apprenticed and the girls to 
marry or become housekeepers for other people. 

Some of Aunt Phoebe's boys became well-known in 
the world as men. Her home in northern Norwalk was 
famous as a ministers' tavern for visiting clergy, nor did 
she fail to cheer the lot of her pastor by sending him 
presents of poultry and other farm delicacies ; while the 
poor of the parish were not neglected. In 1878, nearly 
fifty years after Miss Comstock's death, there was an 
auction of her househoild effects, the account of which 

S92 



makes a collector envious. Old dishes were sold, and 
furniture, among which was the Tryon chair (now owned 
by the Rev. C. M. Selleck), spinning wheels, and 
all the paraphernalia of colonial housekeeping, 
hand-woven coverlets and linen, besides attic 
treasures innumerable. The Noah Wood house 
on East avenue was the parsonage in Dr. Hall's 
day, and he wrote his three books, "The History of 
Norwalk," "The Puritans and Their Principles," and 
"Infant Baptism" in its front upper room. A town 
house, used as a guard house during the Revolution, 
stood on the site of our present old town house, which 
was burned in 1779 and replaced by an uncouth-looking 
structure which came to a violent end one night some 
forty years later, at the hands of a mob of young blades 
who called themselves "Ensign Andrews." On its ruins 
our own "Old Town House" was built, which is not so 
very old after all, since it was built in 1835. It is one of 
the oldest brick structures in town, however; the old 
bank on Wall street (Dr. Walter Hitchcock's office) be- 
ing the first, two houses in Rowayton next and the Town 
House fourth in age ; all of them the work of Lewis 
Raymond, mason and builder. The Town House used 
to be the only public hall in Norwalk and it sen'-ed for 
other gatherings than elections and town meetings. It 
was used by the Baptists during the late thirties before 
they had a meeting house of their own. School exhibi- 
tions, lyceum lectures, and the Wasliingtonian temper- 
ance meetings of sixty years ago, when total abstinence 
was a new idea, were held in the Town House. On one 
occasion the volunteer fire company of popular young 
men filed up to the desk in a body to sign the pledge. 
The glib Mormon apostles preached their doctrines from 
the Town House platform, winning a few converts, in the 
days of Joseph Smith. 

Col. F. St. John Lockwood's beautiful lawn is the 
site of a notable colonial home, that of Commodore John 
Cannon, whose ships plied between Norwalk and the 
West Indies just before the Revolution. Few people to- 
day are aware of the important carrying-trade which 
existed at that time, when hams, horses, staves, hoops, 
flour, butter and earthenware were exported, and sugar, 
molasses and liquors imported. The Cannon house was 
spacious, with a great chimney in which a who^le ox 
might be roasted, besides affording room for game and 
poultry on spits, and kettles hung from swinging cranes, 

S93 



tended by the negro slaves. The house, surrounded by a 
fine orchard, its bountiful table furnished with plate and 
old Canton china, was the sort of home about which a 
novelist would delight in weaving tales. It was burned 
by Tryon in 1779 and the valuables which could be 
hastily gathered were hidden in the chimney or secreted 
in the well. Thre€ of John Cannon's sons built Norwalk 
homes, the eldest, named after his father, built the house 
now occupied by C. O. C. Betts on the Green. It was 
first built in 1773 and destroyed by the fire six years 
later, but it was rebuilt almost immediately. Though 
somewhat changed in its outward appearance since then, 
the hall and front portion of the house are almost the 
same as they were originally. In the drawmg-room the 
quaint painting of the New York Battery over the high 
colonial mantel imparts a distinctive touch of a by-gone 
day. The house on Mill Hill, known until recently as 
the home of Miss Julia Lockwood, was built by Samuel 
Cannon just after the Revolution. Col. Buckingham 
Lockwood purchased it for the family homestead about 
seventy years ago. Mr. Selleck's history contains a pic- 
ture of the house as it looked originally with a gabled 
roof. 

A realistic incident of Norwalk's day of terror, in 
connection v/ith the corner house, known as the Bis- 
sell house, is related in Hall's history. It was then the 
home of Thomas Belden, and his housekeeper in a fever 
of anxiety about the property in her care, ran hastily 
across the Green to consult with Mrs. William St. John, 
whose home stood where Morgan avenue joins East' 
avenue, when the alarm guns were fired. It was Satur- 
day night, July 11, 1779, and Mrs. St. John was prepar- 
ing her bread for baking in the brick oven, when Mr. 
Belden's housekeeper came running in : "Are you going 
to stay?" she asked Mrs. St. John. "No," was the 
answer, "1 am going out of the way." "Well," responded 
the other woman, "I shall stay, I will go to Gov. Tryon 
and plead for the house. When he was Governor he 
stayed with us over night with his attendants and horses. 
I will tell him we are friends of the Government." Mrs. 
St. John responded with a spirit of true New England 
thrift, "If you are going to stay, take my dough" ; and 
Mr. Belden's housekeeper went back across the Green 
with the burning oven wood and loaves of bread ready 
for baking, while Mrs. St. John made preparations to go 
to the woods with her family. Gen. Tryon, sitting in his 

294 



tent next morning on Grumman's Hill, which was "all 
red with the British," that day, listened to the house- 
keeper's plea and sent a file of soldiers to protect the Bel- 
den house and, though the flames had started, they put 
out the fire. In 1816 the house was bought by Clark 
Bissell, Esq., an eminent Connecticut lawyer, who was 
Governor of the State in 1846-49, and it remained in his 
family until the death of the Rev. S. B. S. Bissell, a few 
years ago. The present Congregational parsonage looks 
very modern, and yet a portion of it is very old. In ante- 
Revolutionary days it was an inn kept by John Betts. 
Here Franklin stopped on one occasion, and here lodged 
the elegant Madam Van Home and her two beautiful 
daughters in the summer of 1779. When the British 
soldiers set fire to St. Paul's Church, which was directly 
opposite the inn on the Green, Madam Van Home hur- 
riedly ordered her coach and she and her daughters went 
to Fairfield, from whence they embarked for their home 
in Flatbush, where they were protected by the British 
officers, notwithstanding their own allegiance to the 
American cause. 

Leaving the vicinity of the Green we will now go to 
Cannon street; here we find a house near the sawmill 
which is a perfect picture of an old Norwalk home, in the 
Josiah St. John house, built about 1770. Mrs. St. John 
was a New Canaan girl, and at her hospitable fireside 
many of her friends from New Canaan and Fairfield 
drank tea in the days when the tax made patriots use 
small teacups. Good Mr. Moses St. John, her father- 
in-law, used to remonstrate with Mrs. Josiah about it, 
even it is said, trying to prevent the making of tea by 
emptying the boiling water from the kettle in his zeal, but 
that did not diminish her hospitality. The Camp place 
at East Rocks was built by James Cannon, the third son 
of Commodore Cannon. We glance at the Rocks as we 
go, remembering their part in Norwalk's history, silent 
witnesses still in existence of the battle in 1779 when 
Capt. Betts with fifty Continental regulars and a few 
militia resisted a superior force of the enemy for several 
hours. 

Tradition says that the wounded were carried to the 
Whitney house on upper Main street which stood on the 
present site of Avison's market, and was torn down in 
1864. On France street is the old Betts homestead, the 
birthplace of Hezekiah Betts from whence he went out 
to fight in the Revolutionary War in 1780. The original 

995 



house was very old even then, having been built in 1660, 
by Thomas Betts, ist. That structure was burned, but 
the present one is built around the old chimney. In 
Winnipauk, on the east side of Main street, not far from 
the Fair Grounds, is the Jonathan Betts house which was 
built just after the Revolution by Elijah Gregory who 
served a few months in the army. The old family burial 
plot once occupied the southwest corner of Main street 
and the New Canaan road, though its gravestones have 
long since disappeared. 

At the corner of Main street -and Union avenue is a 
house which dates from 1760, when it was built by Uriah 
Selleck, grandfather of Mrs. W. K. James, at about the 
time of his marriage to Hannah Smith, of Stamford. The 
house is now the home of Mrs. Kate P. Hunter. Its 
once sloping roof has been cut ofif at the rear and an 
extension added, and its shingled sides covered with 
clapboards; but otherwise this Revolutionary home is 
little changed. 

We notice another Revolutionary home on the cor- 
ner of Main and West Main streets, in the Benedict house 
now owned by Mr. Charles Seymour, though we must 
use a discerning eye to discover its age under its modern- 
ized exterior. 

There is an interesting tale concerning the Hezekiah 
Rogers house on the corner of Cross street. In 1789, 
Jesse Lee, the early apostle of Methodism in New Eng- 
land, came to Norwalk one June day to preach his finst 
sermon in Connecticut. He had some reason to expect 
that the Rogers house would be opened for the meeting, 
and word had been sent around among those interested 
to assemble there. At four o'clock Mr. Lee arrived on 
horseback, only to find that Mr. Rogers was away from 
home, and in his absence his wife hesitated to open the 
house to a public gathering. An old lady living in the 
next house was asked if she would allow the meeting in 
her orchard, but she objected that the people would 
trample down the grass. At last, Jesse Lee assembled 
his audience under an apple tree by the roadside and 
preached his sermon from the text "Ye must be born 
again." Such was the beginning of Methodism iti Nor- 
walk. The next house is distinguished as the home of 
Charles Robert Sherman, father of the Hon. John Sher- 
man and Gen. W. T. Sherman, prior to the removal of 
the family to Lancaster, O., in 1810, where the two 
famous sons were born some years later. The Shermans 




Thomas Hetts House, France Street. 




Josiah St. John House, Cannon Street 






s-i 




1 







n 



•x^S 




. .. ^ 





Isaacs House. 




Flax Hill Memorial. 



were popular among their townsmen, and when they set 
forth in a prairie schooner on their journey to Ohio, so 
far away in those days, a throng of people assembled to 
bid them farewell. 

Samuel Jarvis Camp had a singing class in the early 
eighteen hundreds at his home on the corner of North 
avenue and Camp street, which was a popular social 
aflfair. Among his pupils were Charles R. Sherman and 
Senator Thaddeus Betts. 

The Charles St. John house with its admirable 
architectural style of the period of 1820, was built by 
Ebenezer Dimon Hoyt. When first built it commanded 
a pretty river view before the erection of the Main street 
business blocks. The Jacob Jennings house, like the 
Fitch place on East avenue, is marked by the trunk of a 
great elm tree. In their day these trees were associated 
in the names given them for their beauty, the Fitch tree 
being called the "King Elm" and the Jennings tree the 
"Queen Elm" of Norwalk. We are ' interested in the 
place as the homestead of the ancestors of all the Jennings 
families in town. Jacob Jennings came to Norwalk from 
Fairfield in 1762, and built the house for his bride, Grace 
Parke, of Boston. The roads were narrower then, and 
tliere was an ample lawn about the house with a garden 
and orchard in the rear. The interior of the house was 
well finished in hard wood and the tiles of the fireplace 
were of the Yonkers manor-house pattern. One of the 
most interesting Revolutionary houses in Norwalk is the 
Hoyt house on the opposite side of the street. This part 
of Main street was called Mill Plain in the days when 
Gould Hoyt bought this lot for his house in 1764. His 
wife was a Fairfield lady and it was through her 
acquaintance with Gen. Tryon in days of peace that her 
house was saved from destruction in the war time. Gen. 
Tryon frequently visited friends of Mrs. Hoyt in Fair- 
field, at whose home they had often met, therefore her 
personal plea probably saved her home from destruction. 

The exterior of the house is almost the same as it' 
was originally and its interior is noteworthy for the ar- 
rangement of its rooms, and for the Dutch tiles in the 
parlor fireplace with quaint Scriptural designs. It is said 
that the first ice cream made in Norwalk was served at 
the Hoyt table, consisting of pure cream simply flavored 
and frozen. On North avenue and Knight street, the 
Eliphalet Lockwood house and the homestead of Mr. 
George B. St. John claim our attention. The latter was 

897 



built in 1809 and the former, which was the home of Eli- 
phalet Lockwood, a Revolutionary officer and influential 
public man, was built somewhat earlier. The long rear 
additions to both these houses are the old servant quar- 
ters, dairy and work rooms, relics of slavery in Connecti- 
cut. Knight street was named after Dr. Jonathan 
Knight, a surgeon in the Revolutionary army who came 
to Norwalk in 1781, and built his house on the new and 
hitherto nameless street. High street was Mullen Hill 
in those days, and the William St. John house, still stand- 
ing, though removed from its first site,, was a noticeable 
home, which is shown to good advantage in the painting 
owned by Mr. J. P. Treadwell, which gives a view of Nor- 
walk from the river. Painted white with a trim piazza 
and colonial railing, the old house stood on a well-kept 
terraced lawn with box bordered walks, "a picture worthy 
of a New England tale. Arnold's Inn once stood where 
the vStreet Railway station is to-day, with a green bank 
rising behind it. It was considered "a very sightly 
place" there at the head of navigation, as it were, and 
the river view from the gallery of the second story was 
much admired. In summer a band played and the square 
before the inn became thronged when the New York 
packets were at the wharf. Gen. Tryon, when he was 
Governor of Connecticut, used to stop here sometimes ; 
and, on one occasion, he bought a collection of natural 
history specimens of Mr. Arnold wihich he sent to Lon- 
don. Sixty years ago the Connecticut Hotel, which is 
now the Boston Store, divided the entertainment of the 
public with the Norwalk Hotel, which is somewhat older, 
having completed its one hundredth year last April. 
Marquis De Lafayette stopped at the Norwalk Hotel in 
1824, while on his famous tour of New England, and he 
received a throng of Norwalk's best people in its parlors. 
The town went wild with enthusiasm and erected a tri- 
umphal arch on the bridge bearing in letters spelled in 
lights, "Welcome Lafayette." The Benjamin Isaacs 
house used to stand where the Masonic building and 
Mrs. E. P. Weed's residence are at the present time. It 
was probably the oldest house in town at the time it was 
removed, having been built in 1753, and there are several 
interesting stories connected with it. The Isaacs family 
owned a number of slaves, whose bunks in the cellar 
were objects of curiosity to recent generations. It was 
due to the efforts of the slaves that the Isaacs house was 
saved from burning during Tryon's visit. 



SdS 



In April, 1781, Col. Stephen St. John of the Ninth 
Regiment of Connecticut Militia was taken prisoner by a 
party of Associated Loyalists while visiting his sick wife 
in the Isaacs house. He had run a great risk in coming 
to Norwalk at that time, but his anxiety for his wife's 
health had brought him to her side. Some Tory learned 
of his coming and a company of soldiers under Major 
Hubbell, surrounded the Isaacs house, and arrested Col. 
St. John. They marched him to Fitch's Point, prodding 
him with their bayonets at times to hasten his steps, so 
that when he reached the vessel in which they embarked 
his shoes were filled with blood. The Anson Quintard 
house on Water street, which also survived the burning 
of Norwalk still bears tokens of former gentility in its 
present guise as a tenement house, in a well-designed 
doorway with wrought iron window frames. 

Another Revolutionary house which is still standing 
should be noticed, on the comer of Cross and River 
streets, near the livery stables. It was built by Matthew 
Reed of the Rowayton family which will be mentiorfed 
later. Matthew Reed was a famous maker of clocks, one 
of which, bearing his name, is owned to-day in Stamford. 
The house owned by Mrs. James which stands on West 
avenue near the corner of Berkeley street, was the 
home of John Belden in Revolutionary times. 
The saving of the house from burning in 1779 
is accounted for, according to Moses Webb (a 
veteran) by the fact that Garth deposited some 
ammunition in the building on that eventful day in July. 
The Beldens were hospitable people, entertaining many 
visitors from the surrounding towns in a generous 
fashion. Isaac Belden's house, now owned by the 
Catholic Club, was built just after the Revolution on the 
site of his father's homestead. A part of the Belden lands 
were at "the Neck," known later as Belden's or Wilson's 
Point. The rectory of Grace church is also a Belden 
house of an early date. 

The Reuben Mott house on Belden avenue stood, 
until 1861, on the property of the Hon. A. H. Byington, 
who lived in the old house until his own residence was 
built. The Mott house only escaped burning in 1779 by 
accident; for, after the soldiers raided the milk room at 
the back of the house, they started a fire on a broad 
wooden shelf and left it to accomplish its work of destruc- 
tion. It happened, however, that the fire burned the 
shelf just enough to cause it to fall to the earth floor in 

299 



two pieces and the lack of draft, together with the cool, 
damp earth, checked the flames, which harmlessly 
smouldered out. 

An eight-pound cannon ball supposed to have been 
fired from a field-piece on Grumman's Hill on the day of 
Norwalk's invasion, was dug up on the Mott property 
some years ago. 

Stephen, a son of Reuben Mott, bom in 1771, kept 
a tavern on the site of the Carnegie Library early in the 
nineteenth century, at which the stage coach stopped 
regularly. 

The Thomas Benedict house on West avenue made 
way some years ago for the residence of the Hon. E. J. 
Hill, at the corner of Maple street. Many living persons 
recollect the old shingled house with a projecting roof, 
surrounded by an orchard. It was built in 1725 by 
Thomas Benedict, fourth of that name in Norwalk, and 
was occupied in 1779 by the family of his son, Deacon 
Thomas Benedict. On the day of terror, Mrs. Benedict 
and her four grown children had retreated to the woods 
at Belden Hill, One of the boys, aged fourteen at the 
time, remembered the occurrences vividly all his life ; 
and, in 1847, ^^ related the story to the Rev. Edwin Hall 
for his history of Norwalk. "Uncle Tommy Benedict,"' 
as he was called, said that he and his father were work- 
ing on the Benedict farm at East Norwalk, on July 11, 
1779, and they were the first to see Tryon's fleet entering 
the harbor and to give warning of his coming. A patriot 
guard watched all night and Deacon Benedict set out 
wine and cider in his porch for their refreshment. Next 
day these supplies rejoiced the hearts of Gen. Garth's 
soldiers, some of whom partook too freely ; and, as the 
deacon who witnessed the scene used to say, when telling 
the story, "a drunken person was as harmless as a 
corpse." The delay of Gen. Garth's men at the Benedict 
house, enabled the Americans to join forces at the Rocks 
before the two wings of the British troops could meet, 
which held the day a little longer for the defenders of the 
town. Mr. Benedict remained in his house with his ser- 
vants after his family's departure, being prevented by a 
sudden illness from fo'llowing them. Gen. Garth decided 
to leave his wounded men at the Benedict house, which 
resulted in saving it from destruction. 

Mr. Robert Van Buren has made many changes in 
the old Phillipse house, yet it still retains the stamp of the 
eighteenth century. It was built by Ebenezer Phillipse 

300 



in 1795, on land purchased from the Benedict family. 
One of his daughters, Miss Sally Phillipse (afterwards 
the wife of William P. Stuart), assisted Miss Susan Betts 
in starting the first Sunday-school in Norwalk, which 
used to meet in Miss Betts' private school rooms. Elmen- 
worth covers such a large tract of land on the east side 
of the avenue we are interested to know what used to 
occupy it. James Benedict, whose house dated from 
the last quarter of the seventeen hundreds, planted the 
elms which stand by the park gates, to shelter his good 
old-fashioned home. West avenue was not level then, as 
it appears now; the banks before the houses just here 
show how much the original grade has been changed. 
James Seymour's row of great maple trees in front of 
his homestead used to afford a welcome shade to men 
and beasts after they had climbed this hill. Another 
old Seymour home stood next below on the present 
Elmenworth Park, which was an inn at the time of the 
Revolution. 

Every one will recall the old Sammis house by the 
brook, which was torn down when Gen. Frost's house 
was built a few years since. It was so picturesque it is 
a pity there is so little to be said about it. John 
Seymour had the cottage hastily built for his family after 
the lire in 1779, to serve until his house was rebuilt. 
The latter is now a part of the remodeled house owned 
by Mr. J. F. Mcahon. Capt. Seth Seymour's home 
came next on the east side of the avenue on the site of 
the home of Gould Seymour, his great grandson, who 
proudly shows the captain's military saddlebags among 
other relics of colonial days. Capt. Scth Seymour had an 
honorable military record, and he died a prisoner of war 
in the wretched Sugar House prison in New York. 
Capt. Seymour's son Seth, a boy of sixteen in 1779, 
was the first to alarm the inhabitants on the west side 
of the river of the coming of the British vessels on July 
nth. He saw them from Hayes's Hill near Keyser's 
Island, where he was working in the hay field and he 
hurried to Old Well to give the alarm. 

The contrast between old and new Norwalk is em- 
phasized in the quaint home of Jedediah Brown, standing 
next the new First Methodist Church, farther down on 
West avenue. The Wentworth Tavern once stood on the 
James H. Knapp property, next to the Baptist Church. 
It is inevitable in a paper of this kind that Washington 
should be mentioned as spending a night in at least one 

301 



house; and it now becomes necessary to state that Wash- 
ington once slept at the Wentworth Tavern. An old 
house was removed from Ann street last year, to make 
room for an addition to the Roth and Goldschmidt fac- 
tory, which was built in 1788 by Eliakim Smith, whose 
earlier home on the same site was burned in 1779. Elia- 
kim Smith's Bible was recently found' in the possession 
of the New York Bible Society, bearing the imprint of 
1634. Its inscription is quaint and interesting. "This 
Book was 100 years old that year the subscriber was 
born ; Eliakim Smith, Jr., born Dec. 25, 1734, of Norwalk 
in Connecticut, New England; who died F'eb. 11, 1819." 
On its fly leaves are notes of events which seemed 
worthy of record to its owner, among these, "Norwalk 
burnt July 11, 1779, and ye winter following most severe 
in ye fore part and ye following summer very dry." 
Marshall street was, in early days, an important thor- 
oughfare to the dock where packets from New York and 
steamboats some forty years later, made landing. At 
the dock called Liberty Point a ferry conveyed passengers 
across to Oyster Shell Point, long years before there was 
a bridge below Norwalk. Peter Quintard had an inn at 
Liberty Point before the Revolution, and his son James 
rebuilt it after the fire. James Quintard's swining sign 
bore these lines : i 

"Since man to man is so unjust 
You cannot tell what man to trust. 
I've trusted many to my sorrow 
So pay to-day and trust to-morrow." 

Old Well was scarcely a village in those days, but 
rather a group of farms, and the well which gave the 
place its name was on Water street, near the corner of 
Haviland street, on the property of Eliakim Raymond, a 
patriarch of several Norwalk lines. His house stood at 
the corner of Washington and Water streets before the 
Revolution, and was burned with the rest of the town. 
Subsequently the site was sold to the Rev. Absalom Day, 
founder of the First Methodist Church, who built a 
substantial house of the Georgian style of architecture, 
in which, it is said, one of the doors of the old Eliakim 
Raymond house was adapted for further service. Twenty- 
five years ago the Absalom Day house made way for a 
business block. There is an old watercolor drawing in 
existence wihich shows the house as it looked seventy-five 



years ago. Nathaniel Raymond, son of Eliakim, served 
as a soldier in the Revolutionary War ; and, after his 
return, he built the house still standing on lower Wash- 
ington street, near the office of Raymond Brothers, 
where he spent the remainder of his life; a saintly soul, 
always present at the prayer meetings of the old First 
Church. One of Eliakim Raymond's daughters married 
Isaac Hoyt and they lived on West street, at the foot 
of Edward Beard's hill, in a comfortable two-storied 
dwelling. The old house now owned by Mr. Becker at 
the foot of Washington street is an Old Well landmark 
built by George Day. Before the drawbridge was built 
the tide came almost to the door on the north side, and 
shad were caught from an old pier at this point. The 
Peck warehouse, now used by J. H. Ferris for grain stor- 
age, was a country store doing a thriving trade in the 
'thirties. Among the great elms which died from the 
ravages of the elm beetle a few years ago, were two noble 
specimens of their race on Flax Hill. They died and 
were removed at about the time Mr. Thomas L Raymond 
built his present residence on the property which they 
adorned. These trees were the landmarks of the Daniel 
K. Nash homestead, the site of which was the scene of 
exciting incidents on the day of Norwalk's British inva- 
sion. Gen. Garth, in command of the portion of the 
troops which approached Norwalk on the west side of the 
river, believed the resisting patriots were intrenched on 
Flax Hill. He therefore distributed his troops so as to 
cut ofif the Americans from escaping towards Norwalk, 
and with the other portion charged up the hill. There 
was a sharp skirmish near Trinity Church ; but the Eng- 
lish gained the top of the first hill, losing three men on 
the present Raymond property. Gen. Garth covered his 
purpose by a military manoeuvre and paused to bury the 
dead, whose remains were disinterred some fifty years 
afterward when the D. K. Nash house was built. The 
quaint cottage on West street owned by Mr. Samuel 
Ferris was a Revolutionary home which has suffered 
little change. Thomas Hoyt lived here at the time of 
Tryon's raid and his family shared in the general alarm. 
The founder of the Reed family in America is buried 
on the estate of Mr. Samuel Richards Weed at Rowayton, 
and the place has been marked with a granite tablet, 
bearing John Reed's name and the dates 1660- 1704. He 
was one of Cromwell's men who fled to America after 
the Restoration. The first Reed house, which was torn 

303 



down early in the nineteenth century, was a roomy, 
substantial structure, the loft of which was devoted to 
religious meetings; the first to be held in that part of 
Norwalk. Many of the Reed descendants lie in the old 
Middle Five Mile River Cemetery. 

There is a group ol houses in the vicinity built by 
later generations of Reeds, including the William R. 
Lockwood house, though the family has no representa- 
tives living there to-day. 

Near Keeler's ice pond are the ruins of an old 
chimney, the last vestige of a picturesque Warren 
house which was covered with broad hewn shingles and 
served as the subject of many a sketch and amateur 
photograph until its ruin was complete. As we go from 
Brookside to lower Five Mile River, we pass the home 
of Moses Webb, a veteran of the Revolution. 

In Rowayton, near the mouth of Five Mile River, 
are some Raymond houses that date back more than 
a hundred years. In the time of the Revolution, Ger- 
shom Raymond, in whose blood was mingled that of six 
of the founders of Norwalk, a member of the County 
Congress and Committtee of Safety, owned nearly the 
whole of lower Five Mile River, and also lands at the 
Oblong above New Canaan where the same stream rises. 
In early times Gershom Raymond kept six men on his 
Oblong fields to drive away the deer which were apt to 
trample down the growing grain. His house at Roway- 
ton was on Main street near the hotel building of to-day, 
but it disappeared long ago. Three houses built by 
Gershom Raymond's sons, Paul, Edward and Gershom, 
are the oldest dwellings in Rowayton at the present 
time, Paul Raymond's house dating from 1774. The 
Raymond Cemetery in Rowayton was founded in 1782 
by these three brothers, the oldest of whom fought in the 
Revolutionary War. In "Picturesque America," edited 
by Bryant, and published about tweniy-five years ago, 
are some drawings of Norwalk scenes by William Hamil- 
ton Gibson. Among these is a sketch of an old chimney 
on Wilson's Cove, which served for years as a range to 
mariners and fishermen. It is now quite disappeared; 
but the house was of so much interest historically, and 
its structure so typical of early Norwalk houses, we must 
notice the description of it, which is given by W. S. 
Bouton, a South Norwalk antiquarian. "It was a two- 
story frame structure with a long roof sloping to the rear, 
the main timbers were of oak, fourteen inches square and 

304 




Paul Tavlor House, West Norwalk. 




Isaac Selleck House, West Norwalk. 




Elijah Gregory House, Winnipauk. 




The Sherman House, ilain Street, Norwalk. 



- .ill "^ 





Jacob Jennings House, Main Street, Xmwalk. 




Gowld Hoyt House, Main Street, Xorwalk. 







fe^i"^'- ' >m ^ ■■■■ M-W<' 



f" >-• 






Old Chimney of the Esaias Boiiton House. 



covered with chestnut shingles, with the butts fourteen 
inches to the weather. The chimney was situated in the 
center of the building, constructed of rough stone with 
cross-sticks of oak. Its inside was plastered with lime 
made of clam and oyster shells found in the Indian graves 
at Naramoke, now Wilson's Point. Tlie windows were 
few and small. The main fireplace faced one of the 
front windows from which its owner could see Long 
Island Sound and the waters intervening, and watch the 
movements of all vessels which passed that v/ay." Here 
lived Esaias Bouton, a descendant of an old Norwalk line 
and an interested Tory during the Revolution. He was 
very useful in securing produce and cattle for the British 
army on Long Island, and his own hearthfire served as 
the signal to the British vessels whether the coast guard 
was on duty or not. In 1798 an order signed by Tryon 
was found in the walls of the Bouton house, which read : 
"Deliver the beef, grain and vegetables, previously or- 
dered, to my commissary. Send them to the usual place 
of shipment." 

In West Norwalk are some picturesque old bouses. 

The Street house is the oldest of these; and since 
it was considered an old house in 1750 it must be the 
oldest in town at the present time. It is well finished in- 
side with ornamental mouldings and paneled walls. Jesse 
Reed, from Rowayton, built his house in 1763, for which 
he cleared the land himself. It has been well kept and 
is occupied to-day by some of his descendants. Another 
old house is that of Isaac Selleck, which still remains in 
his family. The Charles Selleck house, now occupied by 
Mr. Frederick Keyser, is known to be one hundred and 
twenty-five years old. The Nash and Taylor houses be- 
long to the same period as the Street house, first men- 
tioned. The Nash house, which is remarkably well pre- 
served, has a most interesting interior. Tradition credits 
Nathan Nash with helping the British with their foraging 
expeditiolns. 

The Taylor house, near by, is rapidly falling to de- 
cay. Its owner, Paul Taylor, was as staunch as Nathan 
Nash in his allegiance to King George, but took no part 
in the foraging raids on his neighbors' farms. He was a 
man of decided opinions and his Tory sentiments made 
him very unpopular with his American fellow townsmen. 
He was equally intolerant in religion, being a strong 
churchman of St. Paul's parish ; and when his daughter 
married a follower of Jesse Lee he never forgave her; 

305 



but, in grief and anger, bade her visit his house no more. 
One of his sons, too, caused parental wrath by joining 
the patriot cause and serving as a coast guard in Middle- 
sex. 

In the outlying regions of Silver Mine and Broad 
River are other picturesque old houses which survive the 
generations which built them, and whose histories would 
doubtless yield quaint and interesting reminiscences if 
they were brought to light. 

ANGELINE SCOTT. 



BOROUGH OF NORWALK. 

The Borough of Norwalk was chartered on the first 
Wednesday of May, 1836, and the first borough officers 
were elected July 11, 1836, as follows: — 

Warden — Joseph W. Hubbell. 

Burgesses — William S. Street, Matthias Hubbell, 
Stephen T. Brewer, Stiles Curtis, Levi Clark, Timothy 
T. Merwin. 

Treasurer — Charles Thomas. 

Bailiff — James Stevens. 

Haywards — Levi Clark, Jason Merrill, William 
Cleveland, Richard Camp, Daniel Nash, Robert Cam- 
eron, John Wasson, Lewis Whitney, James S. Kellogg. 

Pound Keepers — Eli Sanford, Nathan Jarvis, Mat- 
thias Hubbell, Buckingham Lockwood. 

Inspector of Coal Wood and Hay — James Stevens. 

Inspector of Grain — Edwin Lockwood. 

Inspector of Butter — James Porter. 

The first meeting of the Burgesses was held at the 
Town House, July 18, 1836. 

At a special meeting of the Freemen of the Borough 
held July 30, 1836, the following gentlemen were elected 
to the offices immediately preceding their names: — 

Fire Inspectors — Charles Isaacs, Henry Selleck, 
Gould D. Jennings. 

Street Inspectors — William I. Street, John Burrall, 
George St. John. 

Assessors — Moses Gregory, William St. John, Ste- 
phen T. Brewer. 



BOROUGH WATER SUPPLY. 

Early in the spring of 1870 the question of a water 
supply for the Borough of Norwalk was agitated with the 
result that a charter for that purpose was procured and 
approved July 15, 1870. 

This charter contained a proviso that the charter 
should not be binding upon the Borough until accepted 
by a vote of the citizens at a meeting duly called for that 
purpose. 

At a special meeting of the electors held August 24, 
1870, the charter for the introduction was accepted by 
a vote of three hundred and thirty-four yeas to sixty- 
five nays. 

On the second day of September, 1870, at a special 
election held for that purpose, Thomas H. Morison, 
Samuel Lynes, M. D., and William K. James were 
elected Water Commissioners, and Charles H. Street was 
elected Treasurer of the Water Fund. 

The source of the water supply is the Silver Mine 
stream. The City, formerly the Borough, of Norwalk 
owns the Scott reservoir at Lewisboro, New York, with 
a capacity of 54,973,000 gallons; the Grupe reservoir at 
New Canaan, Connecticut, with a capacity of 61,740,500 
gallons ; and a distributing reservoir at Spring Hill in 
the City of Norwalk, with a capacity of 4,500,000 gallons. 

The following is a complete list of the Wardens of 
the Borough of Norwalk from its incorporation to the 
incorporation of the City of Norwalk; — 

Joseph W. Hubbell, 1836, 1837, 1838, 184c, 1841, 
1855; Clark Bissell, 1839; WilHam I. Street, 1842, 1843, 
1844; Stiles Curtis, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848, 1849, 1850, 
185 1 ; Charles E. Disbrow, 1852; Dr. Samuel Lynes, 
1853, 1854, 1859, 1871 ; Dimon Fanton, 1856, 1857, 1858; 
William C. Street, i860; George R. Cholwell, 1861, 1862 ; 
Asa Smith, 1863, 1864, 1870, 1873 ; Edwin Lockwood, 
1865, 1866, 1869; Edward P. Weed, 1867, 1874*; 
Harvey Fitch, 1868; Asa B. Woodward, 1872; Samuel 
Daskam, i874§, 1875, 1876; James W. Hvatt, 1877, 1880, 
1881, 1885, 1886, 1887**; Thomas FL Morrison, 1878, 
1879; William H. Smith, 1882, 1883, 1884; George S. 
Gregory, i887§§ ; James G. Gregory ,^M. D., 1888; Clar- 
ence B. Coolidge, 1889; John H. Lee, 1890; Edwin O. 
Keeler, 1891 ; John D. Kimmey, 1892; Edgar N. Sloan, 

^893- 

♦Resigrned. §Elected to fill the vacancy caused by Edward P. Weed's 
resignation. **Resigned. §§Elected to fill vacancy caused by James 
W. Hyatt's resignation. 

307 



CITY OF NORWALK. 

The City of Norwalk was incorporated by an act 
of the Legislature approved June 30, 1893, with a proviso 
in said act that it should "not take take effect unless 
approved by a majority of votes cast at a special borough 
meeting called for the purpose of approving or disap- 
proving this charter." 

In accordance with the above proviso a special Bor- 
ough meeting of the Borough of Norwalk was held 
July 22, 1893, at which meeting there were cast five 
hundred and sixty-six ballots, of which there were five 
hundred and fifty-two approving the charter of the City 
of Norwalk and fourteen disapproving the charter. 

On the second day of October, 1893, the first elec- 
tion for City officers was held at the Hope Hose rooms 
on Water street in said City and resulted in the selection 
of the following officers as the first City officials : — 

Mayor — Edwin O. Keeler. 

Councilmen — John A. Osborn, Elbert S. Adams, 
Arthur C. Wheeler, Eugene L. Boyer, Alfred A. Chinery, 
Jr., J. Arthur Pinneo. 

City Treasurer and Treasurer of the Water Fund — 
Henry P. Price. 

Collector — Addison A. Betts. 

Auditor — Victor S. Selleck. 

Board of Registration — Alfred E. Austin, Bernard 
C. Feeney. 

Inspectors of Elections — Edward M. Lockwood, 
Bernard Tully. 

City Sherifif — Robert N. Morehouse. 

Board of Water Commissioners — Clarence B. Cool- 
idge, Frederick Mead, John P. Treadwell. 

At the first meeting of the Council held on the first 
Monday of January, 1894, the following elections and 
appointments were made : — 

President of Council — John A. Osborn. 

City Clerk and Corporation Counsel — Edward M. 
Lockwood. 

Health Officer — ^Jarvis Kellogg. 

Fire Inspector — Frederick E. Lockwood. 

Commissioner of Streets and Sidewalks — Elbert S. 
Adams. 

Board of Relief — William F. Acton, Aurelius J. 
Meeker, Burr Smith. 

Chief Engineer Fire Department — J. Thornton 



Prowitt ; First Assistant Engineer, F. W. Smith ; Second 
Assistant Engineer, Thomas S. Osborne. 

James T. Hubbell was elected Mayor for the year 
1895, Arthur C. Wheeler for the years 1896 and 1897, 
and the present efficient and deservedly popular Mayor, 
Charles L. Glover, is now serving the City as its Chief 
Magistrate for the fourth consecutive year. The follow- 
ing is a complete list of the present City officials: — 

Mayor — Charles L. Glover. 

Councilmen — Frederick Buckley, Stephen H. 
Holmes, George S. Grumman, Aurelius J. Meeker, 
Aaron H. Hoyt, Alfred Avison. 

City Treasurer and Treasurer of the Water Fund — 
Henry P. Price. 

Tax Collector — Frederick Buckley. 

Auditor — Charles E. Curtis. 

City Sheriff — Robert N. Morehouse. 

Members of Board of Registration — Alfred E. Aus- 
tin, Nicholas Martin. 

Inspectors of Election — John H. Hovt, John T. 
Hayes. 

Water Commissioners — Thomas S. Stout, Levi C. 
Hanford, Goold S. Hoyt. 

City Clerk and Corporation Counsel — J. Belden 
Hurlbutt. 

President of the Council — Frederick Buckley. 

Fire Inspector — George H. Allen. 

Superintendent of Streets, Sidewalks and Sewers — 
Martin Kellogg. 

City Engineer — Charles N. Wood. 

Superintendent of Fire Alarm — John FI. Hoyt. 

Assessors — William H. Byington, Goold S. Hoyt, 
Samuel L. Weed. 

Board of Relief — George W. Fitch, William A. Am- 
bler, James Sutherland. 

Board of Health — James G. Gregorv, M. D., Walter 
Hitchcock, M. D., William J. Tracey, M. D., Frank I. 
Jones, Charles N. Arnold. 

Health Officer— William J. Tracey, M. D. 

Sanitary Inspector — Thomas Hunt. 

Fire Department — Chief Engineer, T. Thornton 
Prowitt; First Assistant Engineer. F. W. Smith; Second 
Assistant Engineer, Thomas S. Murray ; Secretary, John 
Greenwood. 

Phoenix Fire Engine Company, No. i — (Organized 
December 16, 1858.) Captain, A. A. Chinery, Jr.; First 

309 



Lieutenant, Smith Northrop ; Second Lientenant, George 
Lockwood; Treasurer, Charles A. Burr; Secretary, Sam- 
uel Foster; Engineer, George S. Aiken; Assistant En- 
gineer, William S. Bartram. 

Hope Hose Company, No. 2 — (Organized in spring 
of 1859 under name of Phoenix Hose Company, but 
changed its name to Hope Hose in 1877. Re-organized 
April 18, 1894.) Captain, James B. Coste'llo; First 
Lieutenant, James H. Magner; Second Lieutenant, 
James Duffy ; Treasurer, Patrick Slattery ; Secretary, Ed- 
ward Duffy. 

Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company — (Organized 
January 26, 1861.) Captain, Harry C. Mitchell; First 
Lieutenant, Peter Stalter; Second Lieutenant, James 
Foster, Treasurer, Edwin L. Hoyt; Secretary, John H. 
M. Lowth. 

Norwalk Fire Police — (Organized April 29, 1874.) 
President, William A. Ambler; Captain, Aurelius J. 
Meeker; First Sergeant, J. W. Britto; Second Sergeant, 
Henry Cornell; Treasurer, Alfred Avison; Secret3,ry, 
Andrew V. Heath. 

Police Department — Chief, Thomas Bradley; Pa- 
trolmen, Robert N. Morehouse, William S. Bartram, 
John H. Kenny, Thomas Hunt; Specials, John Valient, 
Gilbert Horton, Thomas Leatherland. 

The various committees of the Council are as fol- 
lows : — 

Finance — Holmes, Meeker, Buckley. 

Lights — Grumman, Hoyt, Avison. 

Fire — Buckley, Avison, Grumman. 

Highways — Hoyt, Buckley, Holmes. 

Police — Meeker, Holmes, Hoyt. 

Sewers — Avison, Grumman, Meeker. 

The following is a complete list of the Councilmen 
of the City of Norwalk since its incorporation: — 

John A. Osbom, Walter R. Bates, 

Elbert S. Adams, *George B. Gregory, 

Arthur C. Wheeler, *John Cotter, 
Eugene L. Boyer, Aurelius J. Meeker, 

Alfred A. Chinnery, Frederick Buckley, 

J. Arthur Pinneo, ^William N. Simons, 
William H. Smith, Alfred Avison, 

* Arthur B. Hill, Aaron H. Hoyt, 

Charles F. Tristram, Oliver E. Wilson, 

Harvey M. Kent, Goold S. Hoyt, 

310 



Charles A. Burr, Stephen H. Holmes, 

*Philo W. Bates, George S. Grumman. 

*Deceased 

FINANCES. 

With a splendid sewer system, good highways, and 
a large quantity of excellent water, the City of Norwalk 
may well feel proud of its present financial condition. 

Its bonded indebtedness, including a water debt of 
Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars, is Five Hun- 
dred Thousand Dollars. 

Its floating debt, according to the Treasurer's last 
annual report, is $13,000.00. Four years ago its floating 
debt was $33,351.08, showing a reduction in that period 
to date of over Twenty Thousand Dollars. 

Its present sinking fund is $38,580.50, of which 
$2,000.00 was added in September, 1901. 

The last completed grand list was $5,104,857, which 
was an increase of over $30,000.00 over the previous year. 

LEO DAVIS. 




311 



SOUTH NORWALK PUBLIC LIBRARY 
AND FREE READING ROOM 




OFFICERS. 

President — Abiathar Blanchard. 

Vice-President — John H. Light. 

Secretary — John J. Cavanagh. 

Treasurer — William C. Foote. 

Directors — Dr. G. W. Benedict, R. H. Golden, G. S. 
North, Col. Leslie Smith, Isaac S. Jennings. 

Librarian — Angeline Scott. 

Assistant Librarian — Lillie Gettler. 

Library Hours — 9:30 a. m. to i p. m.; 2:15 to 5:45 
p. m.; 7 to 9 p. m. Sunday afternoons, 2:30 to 5:30. 

HE seed contains the tree ; and, in giv- 
ing the history of the South Norwalk 
Library and Free Reading Room, we 
find all that it is today was contained 
in the idea of its founders nearly twen- 
ty-five years ago. At a meeting of 
thirty business men, held in the Coun- 
cil Chamber on July 6, 1877, called at 
the instance of a few public-spirited citizens. General 
Nelson Taylor presented the idea of founding a free read- 
ing room. He said: "A public reading room, out of 
which a public library might very naturally grow, would 
add greatly to the attractions of our city and offer an 
additional inducement to persons seeking a place of resi- 
dence to settle among us ; as do good schools, churches 
and other institutions for the advancement of education, 
and social and moral culture." The sense of the meet- 
ing was that a free reading room would be useful and 
practicable and a committee was appointed to devise 
a plan and means for executing it, consisting of E. Hill, 
R. H. Golden, C. W. Doty, G. S. Kendall and Nelson 
Dickerman. Their report, made on Nov. 17, 1877, 
recommended : First — The formation of a corporation ; 
Second — The raising of a fund for a lot and the erection 
of a building; Third — The establishment of an income 
for the maintenance of the institution. The idea of per- 
manence suggested by a building, the committee thought, 

313 



would insure more liberal contributions from the public 
than an organization which occupied rented quarters. 
These sound and practical suggestions were accepted; 
and, on January i, 1878, tlie South Norwalk Library and 
Free Reading Room Corporation came into legal exist- 
ence with General Nelson Taylor as president, E. Hill 
vice-president, and C. W. Knudsen treasurer. Life 
membership in the corporation was secured by paying 
an annual fee of $4. The first librarian of the corporation 
was the Rev. James M. Taylor, who was one of the 
active promoters of the library and reading room pro- 
ject. His report in April, 1879, ^^lls how the first books 
were obtained. A committee consisting of the librarian, 
John W. Scott and Nelson Dickerman was appointed 
in February, 1878, to solicit gifts of books from the 
people of South Norwalk. A circular was distributed 
which stated that a committee would call at every house 
on a given day to collect the books. Over 500 volumes 
were secured in this way. The Woman's Christian Tem- 
perance Union had a small free reading room in the Lane 
building on South Main street, and the corporation made 
an arrangement with the Union to have the books placed 
temporarily on their shelves with the use of them free to 
all visitors to the room. Members of the corporation 
were privileged to borrow the books for home reading. 
The annual fee was reduced to $2 at this time. In March, 
1879, the treasurer reported $1,178 in hand, $225 of 
which was the gift of the "Home Sociable Club," which 
gave a dramatic entertainment for the benefit of the 
library. Shortly afterward a lot was purchased on Wash- 
ington street for $1,200. A committee was appointed on 
June, 14, 1880, to devise a plan for a building, to esti- 
mate its cost and the probable income to be derived from 
tenants. Meantime efforts were made to raise a building 
fund. A fair, organized on a large scale, was held for 
one week during May, 1881 ; and, though the weather 
was "incomparably bad," the profits amounted to 
$1,702.83. At last, in March, 1885, it was voted to 
build according to plans submitted by Gen. Taylor in 
behalf of a committee consisting of himself, T. I. Ray- 
mond and C. Swartz. At this time the W. C. T. U. 
reading room was closed and the books were stored for 
six months in the basement of the Baptist church. The 
library building contract was awarded to J. R. Raymond, 
and $5,000 was borrowed by mortgaging the corpora- 
tion's property. The report of A. J. Crofut, treasurer, 

313 



showed $2,384,75 on hand. After the building was 
completed at a cost of $7,645.15, General Taylor sub- 
mitted the report of the building committee in which 
he said : "The plan submitted falls very far short of the 
modern idea of a library building, but the limited means 
of the association were such as to render the idea of 
erecting such a building as is now thought best adapted 
for library purposes, as to light, air, space, etc., quite 
out of the question, our committee therefore endeavored 
to keep within the means of the corporation, and run 
no risk of going beyond a point which they could not 
clearly see their way, without prejudice to a substantial 
and lasting foundation for the institution to rest upon." 
The building was, therefore, a plain three-storied busi- 
ness block with a store on the first floor, to which was 
annexed a one-story addition which was fitted up for the 
Library and Reading Room. A tenant was found who 
took the store at $200 a year, with the agreement to fur- 
nish light and heat and to take care of the room and 
books, which solved the question of attendance. The 
remainder of the building was rented to other tenants, 
resulting in an income of $648 annually. The sagacious 
planning which brought the corporation's affairs to this 
point without a single large gift as a nucleus is beyond 
all praise. Here was an institution started without a 
dollar of capital or a single book, grown, after nine years, 
into a corporation owning property worth about $9,000, 
with its liabilities well in hand and its running expenses 
provided for. The building was formally opened on 
Sept. 30, 1885, with addresses by Nelson Taylor, Jr., 
president of the corporation, and others, and music by 
amateur performers. The librarian, George S. North, 
was the chairman of a committee to furnish the room 
at a cost not exceeding $200, and to subscribe for peri- 
odicals not to exceed $100, together with C, W, Knud- 
sen and R, H. Golden. The annual membership fee 
was reduced to one dollar. The books belonging to 
the corporation were removed to the room and $200 
expended for new books chosen by a committee con- 
sisting of Nelson Taylor, Jr., G. S. North, A. Blanchard, 
Miss M. A. Dibble, Miss M. H. Nash and Miss JuHa 
M. Byxbee. Members of the corporation were invited 
to name the books they desired to have in the library 
and most of the books asked for were purchased, be- 
sides those selected by the committee. The Mutual 
Improvement Society, of which Miss M, A. Dibble was 

314 



president, presented $200 worth of books at this time, 
which were purchased with the proceeds of lecture 
courses given under the management of that society. 
Mrs. C. W. Knudsen gave one hundred and fifty vol- 
umes, Gen. Taylor a number of valuable reference books 
and the Misses Dawson over a hundred novels. When 
the five hundred old books and nearly six hundred new 
ones were brought together in the new reading room 
the task of arranging and cataloguing them, confronted 
the librarian and book committee. They were assisted 
in their labors by others, who gathered for several hours 
every day for weeks to write cards and make lists and 
number the books, in order to make the catalogue for 
one thousand and sixty books, which was published in 
1886 in an author and title arrangement. Mrs. A. 
Blanchard, P. N. Smith, F. A. Smith, Miss M. Taylor, 
Miss Florence Thompson, R. H. Golden, T. I. Ray- 
mond and J. I. Dibble were among these workers. In 
a few sentences is here summed up months of unre- 
corded work for the committee who had the organiza- 
tion of the library in charge. In January, 1887, The 
Old Well Gander Club gave a ball for the benefit of 
the library which resulted m a gift of $550, which was 
devoted to the purchase of books, adding nearly five 
hundred volumes to the library, and a supplement to the 
catalogue was printed containing the Gander Club 
books. Since that time no catalogue has been printed 
excepting an author list of the entire collection, in 
the form of a supplement to the "Evening Sentinel," 
which was generously printed by the publisher, James 
Golden, in 1898. A card catalogue is now being made. 
In x\pril, 1887, the annual membership fee was reduced 
to $1. The increasing use of the library by the people 
of South Norwalk was noted in the reports of each 
month by the librarian ; and, in 1890, Mr. North asked 
the corporation if the time had not come to make it a 
free library. With characteristic prudence, a commit- 
tee was appointed to confer with the City Council and 
consider if it would be wise to. offer the property of 
the corporation to the city, consisting of T. I. Ray- 
mond, Gen. Nelson Taylor and A. Blanchard. Mr. 
North and other members of the corporation addressed 
the Council at various meetings, presenting the practical 
side of the matter, convincing the councilmen that it 
was an advantageous ofifer to the city of the means 
for establishing a free library. After these prelimi- 

316 



naries the corporation passed a resolution framed by 
General Taylor on August 19, 1890, as follows: 

Whereas, The additional accommodations furnish- 
ed by the Library and Free Reading Room Corpora- 
tion, which the increased and increasing number of vis- 
itors seemed to demand, has so largely added to the 
cost of its support and maintenance as to cause it to 
become a burden to the few having it in charge, and 

Whereas, The Library and Reading Room was 
originally intended for the public and is now being used 
entirely by it, it is the opinion of the Board of Trustees 
that the City Government should assume its care and 
maintenance, as the Statute of the State provides that 
it may through its Mayor and City Council. Now, 
therefore, be it 

Resolved, That a deed be drawn, conveying the 
property of the Library Corporation to the City, 
conditioned that the City shall maintain and keep 
a Free Library and Reading Room for the accommo- 
dation of its citizens in consideration of said convey- 
ance, and failing to do so, to return to the Library 
Corporation the property so conveyed in as good con- 
dition as now, or its equivalent in money, the property 
being appraised at the sum of $12,000, less the mortgage 
encumbrance, $5,000. 

The gift was accepted by a city meeting on De- 
cember 9th, 1890, and the property was duly trans- 
ferred to the City of South Norwalk. A tax of one- 
quarter of a mill annually, amounting to about $1,300, 
to $1,800 was laid for its support, which is its only in- 
come at the present time, aside from about $40 a year 
from non-resident subscribers, and less than a hundred 
from fines on books detained over the allowed time. In 
1900 a bequest was made to the library of the interest 
on $1,000 by Robert H. Rowan, a life member of the 
old corporation. In reviewing the history of the library 
this is the only large gift of money disclosed, though 
the frequent contributions of lesser sum.s in times of 
need from C. W. Knudsen are not forgotten, nor the 
gifts of valuable books from several sources overlooked. 
The gift of one hundred juvenile books as a memorial 
to Edwin H. Mathewson, Jr., by his sister, Jennette 
Mathewson, in September, 1901, was the first memorial 
gift to the library, affording an example which may 
result in similar gifts from others. The personal labors 
of the presidents of the corporation, Gen. Taylor, Jr., 

316 



and A. Blanchard, and of E. Hill, C. W. Knudsen, 
George S. North, T. I. Raymond, C. Swartz, Edwin 
Wilcox, R. H. Golden, H. I.'Smith, John H. Light and 
others whose names appear frequently on the records 
of the corporation as officers and members of com- 
mittees, in the days when its income was uncertain and 
all labor for it that of disinterested public spirit, can 
never be too highly valued. When the library was re- 
organized as a city department, the first Board of Di- 
rectors was appointed by Mayor Edwin Wilcox, who 
had been himself an active member of the corporation, 
serving for a number of years as its secretary. The 
board consisted of Col. Leslie Smith, A. Blanchard, W. 
B. Reed, T. L Raymond, C. F. Hallock, R. H. Golden, 
Charles Adams, G. S. North, J. J. Cavanagh. C. F. 
Hallock was elected its first president and Miss Ange- 
line Scott was appointed librarian, dating from January 
3, 1891. The immediate result of the change of organ- 
ization was an increase of book-borrowers, the members 
being quadrupled in the first month. The statistics for 
the last year of the corporation with paid memberships 
at $1 a year, were 4,988 books loaned and 20,885 visitors. 
In June, 1892, the number of books in the library was 
2,123, while in June, 1901, 4,546 books were reported. 
In January, 1895, Mr. flallock resigned from the Board 
of Directors to take a seat in the Common Council 
and he was succeeded by A. Blanchard as president. 
From the beginning the reading room has been made a 
leading feature of the institution ; and, when the corpora- 
tion opened its reading room in 1885, three daily, twen- 
ty-one weekly and twelve monthly periodicals were pro- 
vided at a cost of $80.90, a large appropriation for the 
income at that time. At present the reading room is 
supplied with eight daily, twenty-five weekly, one semi- 
weekly, one fortnightly, and thirty-one monthly period- 
icals, at a cost of $170. Another feature emphasized 
has been reference books, as far as the means of the 
library permitted. The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 
Chambers' and Johnson's Encyclopaedias, Larned's 
History for Ready Reference, the Standard and Century 
Dictionaries, the Appleton Annual Cyclopaedia, Brad- 
ley's and Rand and McNally's Atlases, together v/ith 
useful handbooks, corapendiums and almanacs are made 
accessible on shelves near the reading tables. One of 
the first gifts to the library after it was made free was 
the Century Dictionary, purchased with the proceeds of 

317 



a New Year's tea in 1891, given in the library rooms by 
the wives of the directors and other interested ladies. 
The Jeypore Portfolios of Architectural Details, con- 
taining several hundred carefully reproduced drawings 
especially valuable to art students and designers, came 
to the library as a gift from H. R. H. the Maharajah 
of Jeypore, India. 

The periodicals are filed for reference, some of them 
being bound for circulation in volumes. When occa- 
sion has offered an opportunity for an exhibition of 
pictures without expense to the library the walls of the 
reading room have been brightened by artists' draw- 
ings for illustration, etchings and lithographs, art 
photographs, travellers' photographs from foreign coun- 
tries, Japanese prints and amateur photographs. Dur- 
ing Norwalk's celebration of its 250th anniversary the 
library had a collection of Norwalk pictures and books 
on exhibition. One local industry was honored by an 
exhibition in 1896, consisting of the oyster and its 
enemies in all stages of growth, loaned to the library 
by the Connecticut Shell P'ish Commission. 

Lecture courses and literary societies have been 
promoted by the officers of the library. The Chautau- 
qua Union had a useful existence for five years after 
its organization by the librarian, with Rev. D. M. Sew- 
ard, D. D., as its inspiring president. The South Norwalk 
Improvement Society received its first impetus at the 
library. The aims of the South Norwalk Public Library 
are therefore broad, and its spirit has always been that 
of a desire to be a source of help and inspiration to 
all the people in the community. It stands to-day 
facing larger public demands than ever before from a 
constituency educated to look to the library for the 
books it wishes to read, and its needs are multiplied 
even more than its circulation of books since the early 
days. The closing paragraph of President Blanchard's 
report to the City Council fitly expresses the library's 
present outlook. 

"The great need of the librarv at the present time 
is more money for the purchase of books. A small 
increase in the fund available for this purpose would 
make it possible to purchase books urgently called for 
by the reading public, and greatly enhance the useful- 
ness of the library. Under these conditions the gen- 
erous interest of some friends of the library has been 
much appreciated. The benefactor who will build a 

318 



lasting monument for himself by an adequate endow- 
ment of the public library has not yet appeared and 
that golden opportunity is still open. Meanwhile citi- 
zens and tax-payers should remember that such bene- 
factors are most likely to help those who help them- 
selves and to bestow their gifts on communities likely 
to appreciate and make good use of them, and that, in 
any event, the public library is an institution which, like 
the public school, is worthy of their support." 

TOWN OF NORWALK —VITAL STATISTICS 



Year 


Births 


Marriages 


Deaths 


Population 


1840 


131 


31 


69 


3,863 


1850 


106 


37 


67 




1851 


147 


51 


89 


4,651 


1852 


179 


66 


87 




1854 


192 


64 


109 




1855 


224 


63 


127 




1856 


217 


74 


no 




1857 


221 


61 


129 




1858 


188 


52 


73 




1859 


264 


12 


118 




1 860 


298 


66 


17s 


7,652 


1 861 


271 


58 


146 




1S62 


278 


77 


183 




1863 


207 


64 


149 




1864 


220 


66 


150 




1865 


229 


78 


153 




1866 


278 


85 


155 




1867 


310 


93 


197 




1868 


310 


97 


219 




1869 


341 


107 


207 




1870 


357 


107 


213 




1871 


329 


"5 


197 


12,110 


1872 


334 


101 


263 




1873 


360 


81 


222 




1874 


32s 


97 


221 




187s 


330 


92 


238 




1876 


323 


73 


251 




1877 


271 


73 


251 




1878 


290 


64 


217 




1879 


273 


73 


230 




1880 


241 


86 


226 


13,956 


1881 


282 


107 


247 




1882 


303 


III 


248 




1883 


282 


89 


225 




1884 


304 


107 


233 




1885 


323 


no 


316 




1886 


338 


124 


238 




1887 


343 


143 


287 




1888 


374 


149 


290 




1889 


381 


129 


266 




1890 


423 


146 


317 


17,747 


1891 


439 


147 


308 




1892 


431 


155 


336 




1893 


461 


153 


326 




1894 


438 


95 


364 




189s 


406 


151 


362 




1896 


433 


143 


327 




1897 


446 


126 


306 




1898 


389 


117 


243 




1899 


349 


125 


290 




1900 


365 


no 


331 


19,932 



ANGELINE SCOTT, Librarian. 

319 



PART FIVE 

BENEVOLENT ORDERS — MASONIC 




By Augustus C. Golding. 

T. John's Lodge, No. 6, F. & A. M., 
Norwalk, was instituted by virtue of 
a charter granted by R. W. George 
Harrison, Esq., Provincial Grand 
Master of the Most Ancient and Hon- 
orable Society of Free and Accepted 
Ad^asons in the Province of New York 
in America. The charter is dated 
May 23, 1765. It names Bro. Benjamin Isaacs, Mas- 
ter; Stephen St. John, Senior Warden; and Jehial 
Ketcham, Junior Warden of said Lodge ; to be held in 
Norwalk only, and that until such time as a Grand 
Master shall be appointed for the Colony of Connecticut. 
This charter is still in the possession ot the Lodge, 
The oldest record of a meeting is dated Sept. 8, 
1779, and was held at the house of Brother John Betts, 
(now the Congregational parsonage, Norwalk). There 
were present at this meeting Ebenezer Whitney, Mas- 
ter. P. T. ; Stephen Thatcher, Senior Warden, P. T. ; 
Mathew Reed, Junior Warden, P. T. ; Samuel Burrall, 
Secretary ; Timothy Whitney Tyler, Zabulon Williams, 
John Ritch, Daniel Jackson, Eleazor Scott and Dunlap 
Coggeshal. 

The records previous to the above are supposed 
to have been lost by the burning of the Town about two 
months before this meeting. 

The first election of officers on the records is dated 
February 17, 1780, when Stephen St. John was elected 
Master. The fee for initiation was fixed at two hundred 
Continental dollars, anl ten dollars for the T3der. 

June I, 1780, voted: This Lodge, taking into con- 
sideration the captivity of Brother Ebenezer Whitney, 
have thereupon voted out of the funds of this Lodge 
four hundred dollars for his release, in case it is needed. 
Previous to the formation of the Grand Lodge of 
Connecticut, the several Lodges in Fairfield County 
held quarterly conventions. 

The Lodge was represented at a meeting held in 
New Haven, 14th of January, 1784, when the first Grand 

330 



Master was elected ; but was not when the Grand Lodge 
was formed in 1789, but soon after affiiliated with it and 
received a new charter, and at the renumbering of the 
Lodges in 1796, according to seniority, was numbered 
6. It has continued in active existence to llie present 
time, its doors not having been closed during the Anti- 
Masonic excitement, 1828-1835. In May, 1865, the 
Lodge celebrated its centennial. There was a large 
gathering of distinguished Masons and brethren from 
other lodges. 

The consent of St. John's Lodge, No. 6, has been 
given to form the following lodges: Jerusalem, No. 
49, of Ridgefield, in 1808 ; Temple, No. 65, of Westport, 
in 1824 ; Harmony, No. 67, of New Canaan, in 1825 ; 
and Old Well, No. 108, in South Norwalk, in 1868 ; the 
last having concurrent jurisdiction with St. John's, No. 
6. 

The following is a list of brethren who have held 
the ofhce of Worshipful Master in St. John's Lodge, No. 
6, from its organization in 1765 until the present time: 

Benjamin Isaacs, 11 years; Stephen St. John, 6; 
Ebenezer Whitney, 3 ; David Lambert, 3 ; Matthew 
Reed, 5 ; Samuel Burrall, i ; Jonathan Knight, 10, Isaac 
S. Isaacs, i ; Phineas Miller, 2 ; Taylor Sherman, i ; 
Josiah Thatcher, 2 ; William M. Betts, i ; Moses Greg- 
ory, i; Daniel Church, i; William J. Street, 4; Joseph 
Keeler, 5 ; William G. Betts, i ; Stephen Smith, 2 ; Henry 
Selleck, 2; Philo Price, 4; Asa E. Smith, 4; James 
Stevens, 11 ; Henry W. Smith, 5 ; George F. Daskam, i ; 
John A. McLean, i ; Dimon Fanton, i ; Eli K. Street, i ; 
William D. Camp, i; Samuel Lynes, M. D., 2; William 
W. Storey, i ; Thomas B. Butler, i ; Asa Smith, i ; F. St. 
John Lockwood, i ; Edward P. Weed, i ; Albert H. Wil- 
coxson, I ; Alfred H. Camp, 6; John H. Aiken, i ; Levi 
Warner, Jr., i ; Clauge Guthrie, i ; James W. Storey, 3 ; 
Theodore Wilcox, i ; Isaac Church, Jr., i ; David Pol- 
lard, I ; Augustus C. Golding, 3 ; Jesse Pollard, i ; Mark 
Harris, i ; G. Ward Selleck, i ; Daniel C. Nash, i ; John 
Cotter, 2; John H, Lee, 3: Charles W. Many, 2; Brain- 
erd W. Maples, i ; Frederick Mead, 2 ; Arthur C. 
Wheeler, 2; John H. Wade, i ; Edgar N. Sloan, 2; Har- 
vey M. Kent, i ; Samuel H, Huntington, 1 ; George E. 
Curtis. 

Of the above George F. Daskam and Asa Smith 
have been Grand Master of Masons for the State of Con- 
necticut. 

321 



Old Well Lodge, No. io8, F. & A. M., was organ- 
ized under a dispensation granted by M. W. William 
Storer, Grand Master of Masons, July 27, 1868, and re- 
ceived a charter from the Grand Lodge May 12, 1869. 
The charter members were: Theodore Wilcox, W. M.; 
Samuel Comstock, S. W. ; Frederick A. Kayser, J. W. ; 
Chester F. Tolles, Treasurer; Williara S. Knapp, Sec- 
retary; George W. Knight, S. D., and William B. Reed, 
J. D. The place of meeting is in Washington street, 
South Norwalk. 

Old Well Lodge has been prosperous from the be- 
ginning and now numbers 193 members. 

The following is a list of brethren who have held 
the office of Worshipful Master in Old Well Lodge, 
No. 108, from its organization in 1868 until the present 
time: 

Theodore Wilcox, Samuel Comstock, George W. 
Knight, Robert M. Wilcox, William H. Raymond, 
Thaddeus Guyer, George W. Smith, John W. Bogardus, 
James M. Warden, R. Eugene Kinney, William P. 
Beers, J. Albert McGinnis, John J. Nash, Charles J. 
Palmer, Edward K. Diver, Jay Simons, Leo Davis and 
Chester F. Clark. 



ROYAL ARCH MASONRY. 

Washington Chapter, No. 24, R. A. M., was char- 
tered by the M. E. Grand Chapter of Connecticut, on 
the loth day of May, 1827, to be holden in the Town of 
Norwalk, and named Companions Henry Selleck to be 
first High Priest; Phineas Miller, first King, and Ste- 
phen Smith to be first Scribe, most of the members of 
this new Chapter had been members of Rittenliouse 
Chapter, No. 11, which had held its convocation in Nor- 
walk and Stamford, and which from that time held its 
meetings in Stamford. Shortly after startmg out in 
life Washington Chapter met the wave of anti-masonry 
which for many years retarded its progress but it sur- 
vived all persecutions, and to-day continues its work 
commenced more than seventy years ago. How strong 
the anti-masonic storm was may be judged from the 
fact that no new Chapter was chartered after Washing- 
ton, No. 24, until May, 1851, a period of twent3'^-four 
years. 



Washington Chapter has always held Us meetings 
in the hall of St. Johns Lodge, No. 6. 

The following is a list of Companions who have 
held the office of M. E. High Priest in Washington 
Chapter, No. 24, from its organization in 1827 until the 
present time: 

Henry Selleck, Phineas Miller, William J. Street, 
Elijah Gregory, James Stevens, Edwin Hoyt, John A. 
McLean, George F. Daskam, Samuel Lynes, M. D., 
William W. Storey, Asa Smith, Albert H. Wilcoxson, 
Edward P. Weed, Stephen Merrill, Augustus C. Gold- 
mg, Robert M. Wilcox, George W. Smith, William A. 
Sammis, William Randel Smith, Joseph T. Rice, George 
Ward Selleck, Wallace Dann, James M. Warden, Theo- 
dore E. Smith, Elmer J. Fairchild, David Pollard, Far- 
ron S. Betts, Samuel H. Huntington, George E. Curtis, 
Arthur C. Wheeler. Companion Asa Smith has held 
the office of M. E. Grand High Priest for the State of 
Connecticut. 



Butler Chapter, No. 38, R. A. M., was organized 
under a dispensation granted in December, 1873, and 
Chartered May 12, 1874. Charter members, Robert 
M. Wilcox, M. E. H. P. ; George W. Smith, E. K. ; Wil- 
liam B. Reed, E. S. ; W. H. Raymond, C. of H.; Joseph 
R. Raymond, P. S. ; Riston A. Brewer, R. A. C. ; Henry 
D. Fox, M. 3 v.; Theodore Wilcox, M. 2 V.; Charles 
B. Dake, M. ist V.; William Goodwin, Tyler; John E. 
Smith, Treas.; John W. Craw, Secretary. 

Butler Chapter holds its Convocations in the hall 
of Old Well Lodge, No. 108. It has prospered since its 
institution, and now has 106 members. 

The following is a list of Companions who have 
held the office of High Priest in Butler Chapter, No. 38, 
from its organization in 1873 until the present time: 
Robert W. Wilcox, 1873-4-5-6-7-8-9 ; George W. Smith, 
1880; Thaddeus Guyer, 1881-2-3-4-5-8-9; John W. Bo- 
gardus, 1886-7; William H. Raymond, 1890; William 
P. Beers, 1891-2-3-4; Peter Decker, 1895-6-7-8; J. Al- 
bert McGinnis, 1899; Charles J. Palmer, 1900-01. 



KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. 

Clinton Commandery, No. 3, Knights-Templars, 
was instituted by virtue of a Dispensation issued by De- 

323 



Witt Clinton, Grand Master of the Grand Encampment 
of Knights Templars, in the United States of America, 
and dated Feb. 9th, 1827, and it was located in the town 
of Washmgton, Litchfield County, the first Eminent 
Commander being Daniel B. Brinsmade. 

The Commandery was started with eleven Charter 
members, and created seventeen Knights in about one 
year. It was one of the three Commanderies which 
formed the Grand Commandery of Connecticut in 1827, 
its Eminent Commander being the third officer of that 
body. 

The wave of Anti-Masonry soon checked its pro- 
gress, and in 1847 it was removed to Norwalk, the two 
Knights living here, Henry W. Smith and Edwin Hoyt, 
with John W. Leeds of Stamford afifihated with it, and 
four Knights being created by the Grand Officers, one 
of them, James Stevens, was elected Eminent Com- 
mander, and from that time it has prospered. Its juris- 
diction then extended over the counties of Fairfield and 
Litchfield. In 1855 permission was given to form Ham- 
ilton Commandery, No. 5, of Bridgeport, and the 
jurisdiction was divided between them. In 1870 per- 
mission was given to form Crusader Commandery, No. 
10, of Danbury, and all of the territory north of, and 
including the town of Ridgefield, was given to Crusader, 
No. 10. 

Clinton Commandery has always held its stated 
conclaves since it was located in Norwalk in the hall 
of St. Johns Lodge, and on the first Friday of the 
month. 

The following is a list of Sir Knights who have held 
the office of Eminent Commander of Clinton Command- 
ery from its organization in 1827 until the present time: 
Daniel B. Brinsmade, James Stevens, George F. Das- 
kam, William W. Storey, Asa Smith, David M. Lane, 
Augustus C. Gelding, James W. Storey, David Pollard, 
Edwin Hoyt, George Ward Selleck, Dwight Waugh, 
Levi C. Hanford, Wallace Dana, Christian Swartz, 
George W. Raymond, Henry M. Cooley, Frank Street, 
J. Belden Hurlbutt, Charles E. Dow, Elmer J. Fairchild, 
Charles N. Wood, Peter Decker, Arthur C. Wheeler, 
Farron S. Betts, Ferdinand B. Smith. The following 
have held the office of Grand Master or Grand Com- 
mander of Knights Templars in the State of Connecti- 
cut: John A. McLean, George F. Daskam, WilHam W. 
Storey, Augustus C. Golding, Christian Swartz. 



All organizations of every kind were invited by circular 
and also in the local papers to furnish statistics for this de- 
partment, and if any society is omitted it is because its sec- 
retary did not respond. — Ed. 




896 



GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC 



UCKINGHAM POST, No. 12, Dep't. 
of Connecticut ; Date of organization, 
Feb. 25, 1880. Number of members, 
85. Objects of the organization — 
We, the soldiers and sailors, and hon- 
orably discharged soldiers and sailors 
of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps 
of the United States, who have con- 
sented to this Union, having aided in maintaining the 
honor, integrity and supremacy of the National Govern- 
ment during the late Rebellion, do unite to establish a 
permanent association for the objects hereinafter set 





HH 





forth : 



Tlie objects to be accomplished by this organization 
are as follows: 



1. To preserve and strengthen those kind and 
fraternal feelings which bind together the soldiers, sai- 
lors and marines who united to suppress the late Rebel- 
lion, and to perpetuate the memory and history of the 
dead. 

2. To assist such former comrades in arms as need 
help and protection, and to extend needful aid to the 
widows and orphans of those who have fallen. 

3. To maintain true allegiance to the United 
States of America, based upon a paramount respect for, 
and fidelity to, its Constitution and Laws ; to discoun- 
tenance whatever tends to weaken loyalty, incites to 
insurrection, treason or rebellion, or in any manner 
impairs the efficiency and permanency of our free insti- 
tutions ; and to encourage the spread of universal 
liberty, equal rights and justice to all men. 

Officers — Commander, Fletcher Pierce ; Senior 
Vice-Commander, John F. Lovejoy; Junior Vice-Com- 
mander, Jarvis Kellogg; Adjutant, Wm. A, Kellogg; 
Quartermaster, James H. Hoyt; Surgeon, Horace G. 
Burr; Chaplain, Wm. A. Ambler; Officer of the Day, 
Nicholas Kline; Officer of the Guard, Alfred A. Chin- 
ery; Quartermaster Sergeant, Henry M. Stanton. 



BUCKINGHAM WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS, No. 

30, DEP'T. OF CONN, AUXILIARY TO THE 

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 

Objects of the Organization. — Section i. To spe- 
cially aid and assist the Grand Army of the Republic 
and to perpetuate the memory of their heroic dead. 

Sec. 2. To assist such Union veterans as need our 
help and protection, and to extend needful aid to their 
widows and orphans. To find them homes and employ- 
ment, and assure them of sympathy and friends. To 
cherish and emulate the deeds of our army nurses, and 
of all loyal women who rendered loving service to our 
country in her hour of peril. 

Sec. 3. To maintain true allegiance to the United 
States of America ; to inculcate lessons of patriotism 
and love of country among our children and in die 
communities in which we live ; and encourage the 
spread of universal liberty and equal rights to all. 

Date of organization — Dec. 19, 1887. 

Number of Members — 64. 

President, Mrs. Mary E. Fairchild; Senior Vice- 
President, Mrs. Clarissa B. Bates ; Junior Vice-Presi- 
dent, Mrs. Delia A. Wilcoxson ; Secretary, Mrs. Emily 
Alice Pelton ; Treasurer, Mrs. Sarah E. Reynolds ; 
Chaplain, Mrs. Sophronia P. Perry; Conductor, Mrs. 
Ella Faulds ; Assistant Conductor, Mrs. Kate Shre- 
wood ; Guard, Mrs. Ann M. Canfield ; Assistant Guard, 
Mrs. Eliza J. Kellogg; First Color Bearer, Mrs. Rose 
Hoskins ; Second Color Bearer, Mrs. Emma J. Robin- 
son; Third Color Bearer, Mrs. Ada Byington; Fourth 
Color Bearer, Mrs. Mary F. Decker. 



DOUGLAS FOWLER POST, GRAND ARMY OF 
THE REPUBLIC. 

Objects. — A social organization of veterans of the 
Civil War. 

Date of Organization. — Oct. 13, 1879. 

Members. — 300 on its roll ; present number, 70. 

Present Officers. — Commander, Caleb Wood; Sen- 
ior Vice-Commander, Frederick A. Arnold; Junior 
Vice-Commander, Hiram F. Brundage ; Chaplain, Ste- 
phen R. Wilcox ; Surgeon, Gould Saunders ; Officer of 
the Day, Frederick Keating; Officer of the Guard, John 
Grant; Adjutant, D. P. Morrell ; Sergeant-Major, jf. H. 
Stevens; Quartermaster-Sergeant, R. J. Jamerson. 

387 



DOUGLAS FOWLER WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS, 

No. 15. 

Objects of the Organization. — To assist the Grand 
Army of the Repiibhc. 

Date of Organization. — ^July 25th, 1885. 

Number of Members. — 22. 

Present Officers. — President, Rachel A. Keeler; 
Senior Vice-President, Lizzie Delehenty : Junior Vice- 
President, Minnie S. Wood; Secretary, Jennette E. 
Webb ; Treasurer, Fannie J. Joyce ; Chaplain, Eliza- 
beth A. Mitchel; Conductor, Annie M. Brotherton; 
First Color Bearer, Annie E. Buttery ; Second Color 
Bearer, Mary E. Hendrick; Third Color Bearer, Angle 
A. Brown; Fourth Color Bearer, Lizzie A. Brotherton. 



THE O. S. FERRY COMMAND, UNION VET- 
ERANS UNION, No. 7, DEP'T. OF CONN. 

Objects of the Organization. — Social body of the 
veterans of the Civil War and beneficial, to look after 
the sick and bury the dead. 

Date of Organization. — January, 1884. 

Number of Members. — Twenty-eight members in 
good standing. 

Present Officers. — Colonel, C. H. Jimmerson; 
Lieut.-Co!., Frank Seymour; Major, James La'Hom- 
medieu; Surgeon, J. B. Wheeler; Adjutant, G. S. 
North ; Quartermaster, Norman HatcHman. 



THE NORWALK CHAPTER, DAUGHTERS OF 
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Objects of the Organization. — ''The object of this 
Chapter shall be to honor the heroic m.en and women 
of the Revolution, especially to ascertain and preserve 
the names of such heroic men and v/omen as lived in 
Norwalk, and to use all available means to cultivate a 
spirit of patriotism in the rising generation and to carry 
out in general the purposes of the National Society."' — 
By-Laws of the Chapter. 



Date of Organization. — December i6, 1892. 

Number of Members. — Number enrolled, 160; pre- 
sent membership, 128. 

Present Officers. — Regent, Mrs. Samuel Richards 
Weed; Vice-Regent, Mrs. George H. Noxon; Regis- 
trar, Mrs. Robert Van Buren ; Recording Secretary, 
Mrs. Lester Hyatt; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. 
Kate Palmer Hunter ; Treasurer, Mrs. Edwards G. 
Wilkinson; Historian, Miss Angeline Scott; Curator, 
Miss Sarah F. Lewis; Advisory Committee — Mrs. 
James L. Stevens, Mrs. Jabez Backus, Mrs. Charles 
Dennis, Mrs. Charles W. Shelton, Mrs. Charles H. Nay- 
lor; Honorary Vice-Regents, Mrs. E. J. Hill and Mrs. 
Thomas K. Noble. 



THE CONNECTICUT CHAPTER OF THE 

DAUGHTERS OF FOUNDERS AND 

PATRIOTS OF AMERICA. 

Objects of the Organization. — Section i. To 
associate congenial women whose ancestors struggled 
together for life, liberty, home and happiness in this 
land when it was a new and unknown country, and 
whose lines of descent come through patriots who sus- 
tained the Colonies in the struggle for independence 
in the Revolutionary War. 

Sec. 2. To teach reverent regard for the names 
and history, character, deeds and heroism of the 
founders of this country and their patriotic descendants 
and to inculcate patriotism in the present and succeed- 
ing generations. 

Sec. 3. To discover and preserve family records 
and history otherwise unwritten and unknown, of the 
first Colonists, their ancestors and descendants. 

Sec. 4. To commemorate events of the history of 
the Colonies and of the Republic, and in limes of war 
to obtain and forward supplies for field hospitals. 

Sec. 5. To meet together for debate on current 
events, criticism of books, historical purposes, and for 
social enjoyment. 

Date of Organization. — National Society, June 7, 
1898; Connecticut Chapter, June 4, 1901. 

Number of Members. — Nineteen. 

Present Officers.— President, Mrs. T. K. Noble; 

329 



Vice-President, Mrs. C. W. Shelton; Recording Secre- 
tary, Mrs. J. B. Gerard; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. 
Frederick Belden ; Treasurer, Miss Cornelia Pomeroy ; 
Registrar, Mrs. Robert Van Buren ; Historian, Mrs. 
H. N. Perry; Chaplain, Mrs. Jabez Backus; Color 
Bearer, Mrs. Chas. W. Rockwell, 



THE NORWALK HISTORICAL AND MEMOR- 
IAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. 

Objects of the Organization. — For the promotion 
and encouragement of historical, antiquarian and genea- 
logical investigation relating to said town. 

Date of Organization. — October 5, 1898. 

Number of Members. — One hundred. 

Present Officers. — President, F. St. John Lock- 
wood ; Vice-President, J, H. Ferris ; Secretary, Samuel 
R. Weed ; Treasurer, John P. Treadwell ; Curator, 
Rev. C. M. Selleck; Executive Committee, F. St. John 
Lockwood, Samuel R. Weed, Rev. C. M. Selleck, Frank 
A. Ferris. John P. Treadwell, Robert Van Buren, Nellie 
S. (Mrs. S. R.) Weed. 



THE CENTRAL CLUB OF NORWALK. 

Objects of the Organization. — The object of this 
club is to promote the welfare of the women of Norwalk, 
and to provide a central meeting place for the Woman's 
Clubs of the town of Norwalk. 

Date of organization. — February 25th, 1896. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and ten. 

Present Officers. — President, Mrs. Charles Dennis ; 
Vice-Presidents, Mrs. H. H. Barroll, Mrs. James 
Glynn Gregory, Mrs. Frederick Belden, Mrs. W. D. 
Vernam; Secretary, Mrs. George Washington Cram; 
Treasurer, Mrs. F. S. Lyon, Jr. 



WOMAN'S CLUB OF NORWALK. 

Objects of the Organization. — To form an organ- 
ized center for the intelluctual culture of its members. 

330 



Date of Organization. — January, 1885. 

Number of Members. — Two honorary members, 
twenty-five active members. 

Present Officers. — President, Mrs. I. S. Jennings; 
Vice-President, Mrs. C. W. Shelton ; Secretary, Mrs. 
A. B. Hill ; Treasurer, Mrs. L. O. Coolidge. 



FRIDAY AFTERNOON CLUB. 

Objects of the Organization. — An organized center 
for the literary culture of its members. 

Date of Organization. — October, 1890. 

Number of Members. — Sixty. 

Present Officers. — President, Mrs. C. A. Tucker; 
Vice-President, Miss Helen Ferris ; Secretary, Miss 
Sadie Dibble; Treasurer, Mrs. H. N. Dunning. 



THE NORWALK CLUB. 

Objects of the Organization. — (Copied from Sec- 
tion 2 of the Act of Incorporation.) — The purposes and 
objects shall be to establish and maintain in Norwalk a 
club-house, buildings and grounds, for the maintenance 
of a library, art gallery, reading-room and gymnasium, 
for the mutual pleasure, profit and usefulness of its 
members, and by means of social and business meetings 
and by discussion, lectures and other lawful expedients, 
to develop a healthy public sentiment respecting the 
social, intellectual, sanitary and commercial needs and 
interests of Norwalk. 

Date of Organization. — March i, 1887. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and forty. 

Present Officers. — President, Henry W. Gregory; 
Vice-President, Charles F Tristram ; Secretary, Sey- 
mour Curtis; Treasuier and Collector, Charles E. 
Curtis; Directors — James G. Gregory, George M. 
Holmes, Joseph C. Randle, Henry P. Price, William 
C. Baur, Harvey M. Kent, Robert S. Van Buren, Wil- 
liam M. Betts; Council — Horace E. Dann, George B. 
Buxton, John P. Treadwell, Edward Meeker, George L. 
Woodward, Louis W. Leonard, Allen G. Betts, Frank 
A. Van Buren, Winfield H. Baldwin, D. Warren Fitch, 
Fred'k A. Lockwood, Fred'k A. ElHs ; Auditors — 
Samuel Lynes, Chester S. Selleck. 

331 



THE SOUTH NORWALK CLUB. 

Objects of the Organization. — To maintain a Club- 
House with reading rooms, bilHard room and gymna.- 
sium. 

Date of Organization. — March 30th, 1898. 

Number of Members. — One himdred. 

Present Officers. — President, John H. Ferris; Vice- 
President, James Golden; Secretary and Treasurer, 
Fred'k H. Quintard. 



THE CATHOLIC CLUB. 

Objects of the Organization. — Social intercourse 
amongst its members ; to provide them with the con- 
venience of a club-house, and to afiford them an oppor- 
tunity for moral, intellectual and physical improvement. 

Date of Organization. — Januaray, 1897. 

Number of Members. — One himdred. 

Present Officers. — Moderator, Rev. J. J. Furlong; 
President, Dr. W. J. Tracey; Vice-President, Dr. T. J. 
Clune; Treasurer, Wm. J. Howard: Secretary, E. J. 
Finnegan. 



THE NORWALK YACHT CLUB. 

( ■' 

Objects of the Organization. — To encourage and 
promote the sport of yachting. 

Date of Organization. — 1894. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and fifteen, 
Oct. I, 1901. 

Present Officers. — Commodore, Clarence F. Os- 
born; Vice-Commodore, A. E. Chasmar; Rear Com- 
modore, Hubert E. Bishop; Treasurer, Howard H. 
Mossman ; Secretary, Geo. E. Curtis ; Governing Com- 
mittee — The above five officers, ex-officio, and Messrs. 
Samuel Lynes, Albert Mossman, Wm. H. Palmer and 
Edw. E. Gorham. 



THE NORWALK GOLF CLUB. 
(Corporation.) 

Object of Organization. — Its object shall be to pro- 
mote the game of golf and other outdoor sports, and to 



provide for its members the means for enjoyment of the 
same, exercising all the rights under, and subject at all 
times to, the Statute Laws of the State of Connecticut 
relative to such corporations. 

Date of Organization. — Articles of Association 
signed, and Club incorporated October i6th, 1899. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and eighty- 
seven. 

Present Officers (September, 1901). — President, 
Robert Van Buren ; Vice-President, Edward M. Lock- 
wood; Secretary, Frederick A. Hill; Treasurer, Albert 
Mossman; Captain, Chester Selleck; Directors — The 
above-named officers and Philip N. Knapp, Reed G. 
Haviland, Charles Edwards Miller, Lewis C. Green, 
Victor S. Selleck. 



PINE LEDGE OUTING CLUB. 

Objects of the Organization. — Recreation, sociabil- 
ity and mutual enjoyment. 

Date of Organization. — ^July 27th, 1894. 

Number of Members. — Sixty-four. 

Present Officers. — President, Robert Van Buren; 
Vice-President, E. L. Boyer; Secretary and Treasurer, 
H. P. Price. 



KNOB OUTING CLUB. 

Objects of the Organization. — To form an organi- 
zation of ladies and gentlemen for the purpose of 
amusement and recreation. 

Date of Organization. — October loth, 1891. 

Number of Members. — Two hundred. 

Present Officers. — President, Richard H. Golden; 
Vice-President, Edwin H. Mathewson ; Secretary and 
Treasurer, F. H. Quintard. 



ARION SINGING SOCIETY. 

Objects of the Organization. — To cultivate the 
German language and song. 

Date of Organization. — November 3, 1885. 

338 



Number of Members. — Sixty-eight. 

Present Officers. — President, Charles Schaub; 
Vice-President, Herman Malmo ; Recording Secretary, 
Henry Kriete ; Financial Secretary, Gustave Koncour ; 
Treasurer, Henry Froeb ; Trustees — Jacob Schaub, Paul 
Berg, August Roettcher. 



THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 
OF THE NORWALKS. 

Objects of the Organization. — "The object shall be 
the spiritual, intellectual, social and physical welfare of 
young men." 

Date of Organization. — October, 1900. Incorpor- 
ated May 17, 1 90 1. 

Number of Members. — Seniors, 153; Juniors, 100. 

Present Officers. — President, H. J. Hipson ; Vice- 
President, S. C. Palmer ; Recording Secretary, W. J. 
Leland ; Treasurer, C. E. Hoyt ; General Secretary, 
James H. Norris. 



WOMAN'S AUXILIARY OF THE Y. M. C. A. 

Objects of the Organization. — To assist the Asso- 
ciation in its work among young men. 

Date of Organization. — November, 1888. 

Number of Members. — Forty-eight. 

Present Officers. — President, Mrs. E. L. Ely ; Vice- 
President, Mrs. E. McGonegal; Treasurer, Miss Belle 
Doane; Secretary, Mrs. H. C. Sherer. 



THE WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE 

UNION OF CONN., AUXILIARY TO THE 

STATE AND NATIONAL UNION. 

Objects of the Organization. — The object of the 
Union is to purify and upHft, to plan and carry for- 
ward measures which shall result, with the blessing of 
God, in the suppression of vice and intemperance and 
the salvation of our fellow creatures. Our badge is the 
bow of white ribbon, emblematic of purity, worn by each 
member. 



Date of Organization. — 1877. 

Number of Members. — 18. 

Present Officers. — President, Mrs. Wrn. Lawrence; 
Secretary, Mrs. Ruth T. Makin ; Treasurer, Mrs. C. A. 
Remson. 



FRIENDLY GREETING DIVISION, No. 53, SONS 
OF TEMPERANCE. 

Objects of the Organization. — Temperance. 

Date of Organization. — Dec. 2, 1874. 

Number of Members. — Sixty-seven. 

Present Officers. — Worthy Patriarch, Fred M. 
Hawley ; Worthy Associate, Mrs. Fred W. Buttery; 
Recording Scribe, Miss Lulu F. Prescott; Assistant 
Recording Scribe, Miss Grace Dickens ; Financial 
Scribe, Seymour Crofoot; Treasurer, Mrs. M. E. 
Buttery ; Chaplain, Miss Minnie Buttery ; Conductor, 
Miss Annie Aiken ; Assistant Conductor, Miss Delia 
Dickens ; Inside Sentinel, Eddie Guthrie ; Outside Sen- 
tinel, Sidney Guthrie ; Past Worthy Patriarch, Z. T. 
Osborn. 



CONCORD DIVISION, SONS OF TEMPERANCE. 

Objects of the Organization. — The suppression of 
drunkenness and its attendant miseries, and the educa- 
tion of the young in the satne direction. 

Number of Members. — Seventy-two. 

Present Officers —W. P.. Oscar S. Canfield ; 
W. A., L. E. Erundage; R. S., Mrs. W. A. Pryer; 
A. R. S., Mrs. Oscar Canfield; F. S., W. A. Kel- 
logj>: ; Treasurer, Lewis Hubbell ; Chaplain, Mrs. 
Charles; Con., Miss Hoggson ; A. C, Miss Pitzer; I. 
S., Harry Smith; O. S.,^N. E. Peck; P. W. P., Miss 
Lillian Deverell ; Supi. L. C, Mrs. Fred M. Wheeler. 



RISING STAR DIVISION, No. 40, SONS OF 

TEMPERANCE. 

Objects of the Organization. — ^Temperance reform. 
Date of Organization. — Nov. i6th, 1885. 
Number of Members. — Fifty-three. 
Present Officers.— W. P., Wm. Sniffin; R. S., Pearl 
A. Stevens ; D. G. W. P., C. H. Guider. 

335 



WASHINGTON LODGE, No. 151, I. O. G. T. 

Objects of the Organization, — Social combination 
against intemperance. 

Date of Organization. — ^Jan. 2, 1872. 

Number of Members. — Twenty. 

Present Officers.— C. T., D. A. Pillow; V. T., Mrs. 
E. S. Taylor; P. C. T., E. S. Taylor; Chaplain, Mrs. 
Caroline Wyman; Treasurer, W. F. Pillow; Pinancial 
Secretary, Julia Crawford; Secretary, Lena B. Pillow; 
Assistant Secretary, E. J. Taylor; Marshal, George 
Mills; D. M., John Loft; Guard, Albert Hendricks; 
L. D., E. J. Taylor. 



ST. JOHN'S LODGE, No. 6, F. & A. M. 

Objects of the Organization. — Promotion of char- 
ity and good will among men. 

Date of Organization. — May 23rd, 1765. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and eighty- 
three. 

Present Officers. — W. M., George E. Curtis ; S. W., 
Parron S. Betts ; J. W., Chas. P. Tristram ; Sec, Flet- 
cher Van Hoosar ; Treasurer, Samuel Lynes. 



BUTLER CHAPTER, No. 38, R. A. M. 

Objects of Organization. — Masonic. 

Date of Organization. — December, 1873. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and six. 

Present Officers.— M. E. H. P., Chas. J. Palmer: 
E. H,, Chester F. Clark; E. S., Andrew Walker; 
Treasurer, Henry A. Wood ; Secretary, Robert M. Wil- 
cox; O. O. H.,"Wm. H. Raymond; P. S., J. A. Mc- 
Ginnis ; R. A. C, Wm. P. Beers ; M. 3 V., Peter Decker ; 
M. 2 v., Chas. A. Damon; M. i V., Hickson W. Cole; 
Organist, Daniel C. Nash; Chaplain, Geo. W. Smith; 
Tyler, Andrew J. Grossman. 



OLD WELL LODGE, No. 108, F. & A. M. 

Objects of Organization. — Masonic. 
Date of Organization. — September, 1868. 

3S6 



Number of Members. — One hundred and ninety- 
four. 

Present Officers.— W. M., Chester F. Clark; S. W., 
Peter Decker; J. W., Hickson W. Cole; Treasurer, 
James A. Brown; Secretary, Robert M. Wilcox: S. D., 
Robert A. Kline; J. D., Stephen S. Naphey; S. S., 
Frank Gamwin ; J. S., Henry A. Lewis ; Marshal, Wm. 
P. Beers; Chaplain, Wm. H. Raymond; Organist, 
Daniel C. Nash; Tyler, Andrew J. Crossman. 



WASHINGTON CHAPTER, No. 24, ROYAL ARCH 
MASONS. 

Objects of Organization. — Masonic. 
Date of Organization. — 1827. 
Number of Members. — About one hundred and 
thirty. 

Present Officers. — E. C, Arthur C. Wheeier, H. 
P.; C, Leo Davis, K. ; C, E. P. Weed, S.; C, Samuel 
Lynes, Treasurer; C, G. W. Raymond, Secretary; E, 
C, S. H. Huntington, C. of H.; E. C, J. W. Storey, 
P. S. ; C, J. C. Forbush, R. A. C, ; C, Allen G. Betts, 
T. ; Master of the Veils, John VaHant, Peter Stalter, 
Wallace Dann; Trustees, J. W. Storey, David Pollard, 
Wallace Dann. 



CLINTON COMMANDERY, No. 3, KNIGHTS 
TEMPLARS. 

Date of Organization. — Feb. 9, 1827. 

Present Number of Members. — Eighty-six. 

Present Officers. — F. B. Smith, Eminent Com- 
mander; Dr. S. H. Huntington, Generalissimo; Charles 
Finch, Captain General; Charles Fable, Junior War- 
den ; George W. Raymond, Treasurer ; Farron S. 
Betts, Recorder ; George E. Curtis, Prelate ; W. G. 
Michaels, Standard Bearer; Peter Stalter, Sword 
Bearer; A. C. Wheeler, Warder; Claude Guthrie, First 
Guard; C. N. Wood, Second Guard; S. B. Lockwood, 
Third Guard; A. A. Betts, Sentinel. 

837 



OUR BROTHERS LODGE, I. O. O. F. 

Objects of the Organization. — To relieve the dis- 
tressed, to bury the dead and educate the orphan. 

Date of Organization. — October 19, 1842. 

Number of Members. — Four hundred and thirty- 
eight. 

Present Officers. — Roval A. Ellis, N. G. ; Samuel 
O. Kemp, V. G. ; B. S. Keith, Secretary; A. A. Betts, 
Treasurer; St. John Merrill, Financial Secretary. 



KABAOSA ENCAMPMENT, No. 9, I. O. O. F. 

Objects of the Organization. — A higher branch of 
Odd Fellowship for the farther promotion of good and 
v/elfare amongst Odd Fellows. 

Date of Organization. — September 17th, 1845. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and sixty- 
eight. 

Present Officers. — Roval Ellis, C. P. Joseph G. 
Hyatt, H. P. ; Wilbur F. Hubbell, S. W.; St. John Mer- 
rill, Scribe ; Bradley S. Keith, Treasurer ; Samuel O. 
Kemp, J. W. 



BUTLER LODGE, No. 97, I. O. O. F. 

Date of Organization. — September 25, 1875. 

Number of Members. — Three hundred and ninety- 
three. 

Present Officers.— N. G., Hubert S. Mitchell ; V. S., 
John Keogh ; Secretary, Frank E. Carr. 



COLFAX ENCAMPMENT, No. 31, L O. O. F. 

Objects of the Organization. — To benefit one an- 
other socially and financially. 

Date of Organization. — June 27th, 1892. 

Number of Members. — About sixty. 

Present Officers. — Chief Patriarch, Wm. Q. Mer- 
riam; Senior Warden, D. Burr Beach; Junior Warden, 
James H. Wilmot; Scribe, John H. Batterson; Sen- 
tinel, John Snififen; Treasurer, Frank Carr; High 
Priest, Samuel Silliman. 



EUREKA REBEKAH LODGE. 

Objects of the Organization. — For Mutual Aid. 

Date of Organization. — December 9th, 1895. 

Number of Members. — Two himdreJ and fifty. 

Present Officers. — Past Grand, Belle Hodshon ; 
Noble Grand, Adelia Martineau ; Vice Grand, Gussie 
Barthol ; Financial Secretary, Addie Hyatt ; Recording 
Secretary, Elizabeth Henderson ; Treasurer, Hattie 
Batterson. 



SOUTH NORWALK IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY. 

Objects of the Organization. — Improvement of 
Norwalk. 

"The object of this Association shall be to awaken 
and encourage in the community a sentiment and spirit 
which will act for the common interest ; to create or 
stimulate in the individual a desire for the elevation and 
improvement of the community, thereby securing better 
hygienic conditions in our homes and surroundings ; 
an improvement of our streets, sidewalks and public 
grounds ; the planting and cultivating of trees arid the 
protection of natural scenery, and the building up and 
beautifying the whole town of Norwalk, and so enhanc- 
ing the beauty and value of its property and rendering 
it a still more inviting place for residence.'' 

Date of Organization. — January 13, 1896. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and twenty- 
five. 

Present Officers. — President, John H. Light; Sec- 
retary, Thomas I. Raymond ; Treasurer, Leslie Smith. 



THE NORWALK BUILDING LOAN AND 
INVESTMENT CORPORATION. 

Objects of the Organization. — Saving Money and 
getting a home. 

Date of Organization. — August 20th, 1889. 

Number of Members. — Two hundred and fifty. 

Present Officers. — President, Nelson Taylor; Sec- 
retary, R. H. Golden ; Treasurer, Geo. C. Stillson. 



SOUTH NORWALK BOARD OF TRADE. 

Objects of Organization. — To induce manufacturers 
to locate in South Norwalk and develop the city; to 
promote trade, manufactures and commercial enter- 
prises. 

Date of Organization. — April lo, 1897. 

Number of Members. — Seventy-five. 

Present Officers. — President, Nelson Taylor; Sec- 
retary, R. H. Golden. 



NORWALK BUSINESS MEN'S ASSOCIATION. 

Objects of the Organization. — Best interests of 
merchants and the community. 

Date of Organization. — December 29, 1898. 

Number of Members. — Fifty. 

Present Officers. — President, E. S. Adams; Vice- 
President, A. C. Wheeler; Secretary, C. E. Curtis; 
Treasurer, M. H. Glover. 



NORWALK HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION. 

Objects of the Organization. — Maintenance of a 
hospital. 

Date of Organization. — Dec. 2, 1892. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and twenty- 
two. 

Present Officers. — President, Hon. John H. Ferris; 
Vice- President, Robert Van Buren; Secretary, Stephen 
W. Vel.sor; Treasurer, Charles B. Stevens; Executive 
Committee — Dr. J. G. Gregory, Thomas I. Raymond, 
William F. Bishop. 



RIVERSIDE CEMETERY ASSOCIATION. 

Objects of the Organization. — To create a park 
cemetery. 

Date of Organization. — May 19th, 1886. 

Number of Members. — Joint Stock Association. 

Present Officers. — President, Vice-President, Sec- 
retary, Treasurer and Superintendent. 

340 



UNCAS TRIBE, No. 26, IMP. O. RED MEN. 

Objects of the Organization. — To aid distressed 
brothers in sickness and death and their widows and 
orphans. 

Date of Organization. — May 18, 1893. 

Number of Members. — Two hundred and five. 

Present Officers. — W. A. Thompson, S.; J. W. 
Gorham, S. S.; R. J. Smith, J. S., A. B. Freeman, C. 
of R. 



HAY LOFT OF UNCAS, 26 1-2. 

Objects of the Organization. — Assisting in sickness 
and death. 

Date of Organization. — August 6, 1896. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and nineteen. 

Present Officers. — Chief Haymaker, C. E. Warren, 
Jr. ; Collector of Straws, A. B. Freeman. 



COCKENOE TRIBE, No. 32, I. O. R. M. 

Objects of the Organization. — Relieve the sick and 
bury the dead. 

Date of Organization. — January, 1897. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and forty. 

Present Officers. — Sachem, Fred Benger; Senior 
Sagamore, W. J. Comstock ; Junior Sagamore, W. 
Meehan; Prophet, Geo. Murray ; C. of R., Addison A. 
Betts ; K. of W., A. Carmi Belts ; C. of W., E. Brown. 



COCKENOE HAYMAKERS ASSOCIATION. 
No. 32 1-2. 

Objects of Organization. — Fun and goodfellow- 
ship and to aid each other in distress. 

Date of Organization. — November i6th, 1899. 

Number of Members. — Forty-two. 

Present Officers. — Chief Haymaker, Geo. Murray; 
Ass't Chief Haymaker, Royal A. ElHs ; Overseer, 
Aaron Decker; Past Chief Haymaker, Arthur S. 
Mackin; Collector of Straws, Fred'k B. Mackin; Keep- 
er of Bundles, H. I. Smith. 

341 



SCHILLER STAMM, No. 266, INDEPENDENT 
ORDER OF RED MEN. 

Objects of the Organization. — Sick benefit society. 

Date of Organization. — April loth, 1893. 

Number of Members. — Fifty-three. 

Present Officers. — Priester, Henrv Kriete ; Ober 
Chief, Francis Kocour; By Chief, Jacob Wolf; Unter 
Chief, Charles Raymond; Schriftfiihrer, Gustav 
Lange ; Schatzvernahrer, Frank WoUyoung ; District 
Deputy, Paul T. Berg. 

PONASSUS COUNCIL, No. 1268, ROYAL 
ARCANUM. 

Objects of the Organization. — Fraternal union, 
moral and material aid to members, assistance of widows 
and orphans of deceased members. 

Date of Organization. — August 2nd, 1893. 

Number of Members. — Forty-five. 

Present Officers. — Regent, J. E. Russell ; Vice- 
Regent, A. Carmi Betts ; Orator, Albert A. Betts ; Past 
Regent, Lewis C". Green ; Secretary, S. C. Cummings ; 
Collector, O. B. Jackson; Treasurer, Wm. A. Curtis; 
Chaplain, E. J. Jackson; Guide, J. C. Forbush ; War- 
den, James H. Flvnn; Sentry, J. H. Corbit; Trustees — 
O. K. Schofield, H. P. Price, C. W. Many. 



SHERMAN COUNCIL, No. 1342. ROYAL 
ARCANUM. 

Objects of the Organization. — i. Fraternal union. 

2. Moral and material aid to members and their 
dependents. 

3. Education of its members ; assistance of 
widows and orphans of deceased members. 

4. Relief of sick and distressed members. 

5. Payment of death benefit. 

Date of Organization. — February 19, 1891. 
Number of Members. — Council, 105 members. Gen 
eral membership, 250,000. 

342 



THE IMMEDIATE RELIEF ASSOCIATION OF 
SHERMAN COUNCIL, No. 1342 AND PONAS- 
SUS COUNCIL, No. 1268, R. A. 

Objects of the Organization. — To establish a fund 
for the immediate rehef, in the event of death, of either 
a member or his beneficiary. 

Date of Organization. — December 10, 1895. 

Number of Members. — Ninety-nine. 

Present Officers. — President, W. P. Randle ; Vice- 
President, A. Carmi F'etts ; Secretary, S. C. Cummings ; 
Treasurer. Geo. F. Eearse. 



UNITED ORDER OF THE GOLDEN CROSS. 

Objects of the Organization. — Fraternity and in- 
surance. 

Date of Organization. — February 27th, 1891. 

Number of Members. — Fifty. 

Present Officers. — Commander, James Walsh : 
Vice-Commander, Annie M. Decker ; Prelate, Sarah J. 
Benedict ; Treasurer, James Lycett ; Financial Keeper 
of Records, Hovvard W. Doty; Keeper of Records, Geo. 
C. Comstock ; Herald, Geneva M. Decker; Warder of 
Inner Gate, Louisa Romer ; Warder of Outer Gate, 
Fred'k E. Brotherton; Past Commander, Louisa A. 
Evans. 



KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS. 

Objects of the Organization. — Beneficial. 

Date of Organization. — November 15th, 1883. 

Number of Members. — One hundred. 

Present Officers.— C. C, A. C. Vv^ood; V. C, Wm. 
O'Hara; P. V., Wm. F. Korn; M. of W., L. L. Shaw; 
K. of R. and S., R. J. Smith ; M. of Ex.. J. W. Gorham; 
M. of F., R. W. Sweeney. 



SECURITY COUNCIL, No. 22, NATIONAL PRO- 
VIDENT UNION. 

Objects of the Organization. — Benefits. 
Date of Organization. — June 5th, 1885. 

343 



Number of Members. — Twenty-five. 

Present Officers. — President, Wm. A. Kellogg; 
Vice-President, G. A. Franke; Secretary and Collec- 
tor, F. M. Wheeler; Treasurer, S. S. Naphey. 



BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER OF 

ELKS. 

Objects of Organization. — To promote sociability 
and dispense charity. 

Date of Organization. — June 12, 1901. 

Number of Members. — Sixty. 

Present Officers. — Exalted Ruler, F. W. Cameron; 
Esteemed Leading Knight, John Hadden; Esteemed 
Loyal Knight, John Kiersch; Esteemed Lecturing 
Knight, William C. Jesse ; Inner Guard, P. M. Hutchin- 
son ; Tyler, William Banker ; Secretary, Ariel Cameron ; 
Treasurer, C. S. Randall. 



COURT NARRUP, No. 58, FORESTERS OF 
AMERICA. 

Objects of Organization. — Liberty, unity, benevo- 
lence, concord. 

Date of Organization. — April 30, 1891. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and twenty- 
five. 

Present Officers. — C. R., Jas. S. Dyer; S. C. R., 
Geo. W. Ingham ; Treasurer, S. M. Smith ; Financial 
Secretary, Jos. Gilmore ; Recording Secretary, Edward 
J. Hayes. 



FORESTERS OF AMERICA, STAR OF COLUM- 
BIA, COMPANIONS OF THE FOREST. 

Objects of the Organization. — Beneficial and social. 
Date of Organization. — June 29, 1894. 
Number of Members. — Sixtv-eight. 
Present Officers.— Mrs. Frank Lyle, C. C; Miss 
Lizzie Mulcahey, Sub C. C; Mrs. Geo. Steegmuller, 

344 



Rec. Sec'y. ; Mrs. Katharine Howard, Financial Sec'y; 
Miss Katharine Duffy, Treasurer; Miss Anna Moore, 
Right Guide; Miss Katharine McGinn, Left Guide; 
Mrs. John Jondreau, Inside Guardian; Miss May Bren- 
nan, Outside Guardian. 



COURT MAHACKEMO, No. 33, FORESTERS OF 
AMERICA. 

Objects of the Organization. — Bene\olence and 

sick benefit. 

Date of Organization. — January 12th, 1888. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and eleven. 

Present Of^.ccrs. — C. R , Ernest Hopkins ; S. C. R., 
Frank Baker; Financial Secretary, John C. Silcox; Re- 
cording Secretary, George Eason ; Treasurer, John 
Pendar ; S. W., John Skidd ; J. W., Frederick Ander- 
son ; S. B., William Purdy ; J. B., Charles Colwell. 



LADY JENNINGS, No. 7, ORDER OF SHEP- 
HERDS OF BETHLEHEM. 

Objects of the Organization. — Social and beneficial. 

Date of Organization. — April 3rd, 1900. 

Number of Members. — Seventy-seven. 

Present Officers. — Commander, Mrs. Victoria Ho- 
man ; Vice-Commander, Wm. L. Merriam. ; Past Com- 
mander, Mrs. Margaret Brush; Aide to Commander, 
Mrs. Clara Solker; Scribe, Miss Emma F. Buxton; 
Accountant, Miss Etta Solker ; Treasurer, Mrs. Chas 
Solker; Marshal, Miss Belle Roe; Chaplain, Mrs. 
Mary Robinson ; Guards, Miss Viola Bates, Miss Flor- 
ence Clark; P. Commanders, Fannie J. Joyce, Mary 
Merritt, Kate Balser. 



AMERICAN LEGION OF HONOR. 

Objects of the Organization. — Fraternal insurance. 
Date of Organization. — October, 18S2. 
Number of Members. — One hundred and thirty. 
Present Officers. — Commander, J. C. Crowe; Sec- 
retary and Treasurer, W. P. Smallhorn. 

345 



BISHOP McMAHON COUNCIL, No. 499, CATH- 
OLIC BENEVOLENT LEGION. 

Objects of the Organization. — Social and moral 
improvement, and the creation of a fund foi the benefi- 
ciaries of deceased members, and the relief of infirm and 
aged members. 

Date of Organization. — P'ebruar}' 24, 1895. 

Number of Members. — Twenty-six. 

Present Officers. — President, O. A. Reill)'-; Vice- 
President, P. Briody ; Secretary, P. H. Buckley; Col- 
lector, P. J. Kearney; Treasurer, John Henry; Orator, 
John Callaghan ; Chancellor, T. J, Byrnes ; Marshal, P. 
Buckley; Guard, T. E. Montgomery; Medical Exam- 
iner, W. J. Tracey. 



CATHOLIC UNION COUNCIL, No. 46, KNIGHTS 
OF COLUMBUS. 

Objects of the Organization.— Charity, unity, fra- 
ternity and brotherly love. 

Date of Organization. — July 15th, 1888. 

Number of Members. — One hundred. 

Present Officers. — Grand Knight, Michael J. Rior- 
dan; Deputy Grand Knight, Thomas H. Burns ; Treas- 
urer, Edw. J. Finnegan; Financial Secretary, Bernard C. 
Feeney ; Recording Secretary, Hugh Donnelly ; War- 
den, William H. McMahon; Chancellor, Michael J. Dor- 
igan; Lecturer, David Flaherty; Advocate, Edward 
Barrett ; Chaplain, Rev. M. Kiernan ; Physician, Dr. W. 
J. Tracy; Outside Guard, Matthew Burnes; Inside 
Guard, James H. Magner. 



PALESTINE CASTLE, NO. 2, ANCIENT ORDER 
KNIGHTS OF THE MYSTIC CHAIN. 

Objects of the Organization. — Relief in sickness ; 
mutual assistance in business; relief of widows and or- 
phans of deceased members. 

Date of Organization. — August 12, 1887, 
Number of Members. — Last report, 90. 

346 



Present Officers. — P. C, F. Coiitoii ; Com., W. 
Piatt; V. Com., Charles Utzinger; Marshal, Charles 
Johnson ; R. S., Byron C. Mead ; F. S., Edward Beacom ; 
Treas., William Taylor; Organist, Edward Johnson; I. 
S., Godfrey Utzinger; O. S., Harry Paxton ; Chaplain, 
F. Scofield, Jr. ; Trustees, Ira D. Stevens, Joseph Bart- 
lem, Jacob Utzinger; Director, F. Scofield, Jr. 



PIONEER CASTLE, NO. i, ANCIENT ORDER 
KNIGHTS OF MYSTIC CHAIN. 

Objects of the Organization. — i. Relief of breth- 
ren in sickness, accident or distress. 2. Mutual assis- 
tance in business and in procuring employment. 
3. The assistance and care of widows and or- 
phan.- of deceased members. 4. To create greater 
love for country, homes and firesides. 5. To teach obe- 
dience and fidelity to the laws of our country and laws 
of our own creating. 6. To bind together by the links 
of friendship, cemented by brotherly love, the members 
of the Order in one common brotherhood. 

Instituted Sept. 6th, 1895, by D. D. S. C, Geo. W. 
Coffin, assisted by S. I. G., Solomon Seam. 

Number of Members. — Forty-one. 

Officers, P. Commander, Geo. H. Whitlock; Com- 
mander, Jas. McQuillan; Vice Com.mander, Fred Hyatt; 
Marshal, Geo. Spicer; Chaplain, Charles Murray; Rec. 
Scribe, Nathan E. Peck; Financial Scribe, Wilbur Hy- 
att; Treasurer, Richard Nesbitt; Inside Guard, Geo. 
Hewett; Outside Guard, Jos. Whitley; Trustees, John 
Kirsch, Wilbur Hyatt, Benj. Becktle. Meets every 
Wednesday evening in Sons of Temperance Hall, Ga- 
zette Building. 



SOUTH NORWALK CONCLAVE, NO. 418, IM- 
PROVED ORDER HEPTASOPHS. 

Objects of the Organization. — Fraternal insurance. 
Date of Organization. — May 14, 1896. 
Number of Members. — Forty-five. 
Present Officers. — Past Archon, John E. Paul; Ar- 
chon, Thomas B. Griffin; Provost, William Miller; Prc- 

347 



late, Frederick T. Butler ; Secretary, Frank W. Stiirde- 
vant ; Financier, Wilfred Bcdwell ; Treasurer, Frank N. 
Ferris ; Inspector, Arthur C. Wood ; Warden, James W. 
O'Brien; Sentinel, Charles B. Gray. 



IMPROVED ORDER FIEPTASOPHS, NORWALK 
CONCLAVE, NO. 427. 

Objects. — To unite fraternally all white men of 
sound bodily health, of good moral character, socially 
acceptable, engaged in an honorable profession or busi- 
ness occupation not hazardous, and between 21 years 
and 55 years of age. 

Date of Organization. — June, 1896, 

Niunber of Members. — Twenty-nine. 

Present Officers. — Archon, T. Marshall Andrews ; 
Past Archon, Arthur C. Wheeler ; Provost, James Ly- 
cett ; Secretary, Howard Doty ; Treasurer, St. John 
Merrill ; Financier, Herbert W. Kemp ; Prelate, W. F. 
Lockwood ; Inspector, Mortimer Eetts ; Warder and 
Sentinel. William Buxton; Trustees, Moses Glover, 
James Lx'cett, Frederick Lockwood. 



PATRIOTIC ORDER, SONS OF AMERICA, 
NO. Ti. 

Objects of the Order. — To inculcate pure American 
principles. To teach loyalty to American institutions. 
To cultivate fraternal affection. To oppose foreign in- 
fluence in state or national atiairs. To oppose all ap- 
pro]-)riations of public moneys for sectarian purposes. 
To preserv^; the constitution of the United States. To 
defend and maintain the American system of public 
schools. 

Date of Organization. — Sept. nth, 1899. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and seventy- 
eight. 

Presem C)fficers. — President, W. H. Snififen; Vice 
President, Harry M. Hubbell ; Master of Forms, F. P. 
Self; Past President, S. G. Silliman; Recording Secre- 
tary, J. H. Batterson ; Financial Secretary, D. B. Beach ; 
Treasurer, H. A. Wood; Inspector, J. B. Davenport; 
Guard, William Underdown. Meets every Thursday in 
Mystic Chain Hall. 



PATRIOTIC ORDER OF AMERICANS. 

Objects. — Patriotism, mutual benefit, protection, 
fraternity. 

Dat'^ of Organization. — October 24, 1901. 

Number of Members. — Twenty-seven. 

Officers. — Past President, Mrs. Thomas Cole; Asst. 
Past President, Mrs. Cora Shipman ; President, Mrs. 
Catherine Smith; Asst. President, George M. Phillips; 
Vice President, Mrs. Albert Dunn; Asst. Vice Presi- 
dent, Franlc P. Self; Conductor, Miss Anna Curtis; 
Asst. Conductor, Mrs. George M. Phillips; Recording 
Secretary, Miss Ruth Rolliston ; Asst. Recording Secre- 
tary, Mrs. Frank Day; Financial Secretary, Mrs. John 
Cashaw, Sr. ; Treasurer, Mrs. Charles Day; Guard, Mrs. 
Frank P. Self ; Sentinel, Miss Sadie Cashaw ; Orator, 
Mrs. Stephen Naphey ; Chaplain, Mrs. Sprague ; Pianist, 
Miss Minnie Raymond ; Trustees, H. S. Mitchell, Mrs. 
H. S. Mitchell, Mrs. F. P. Self. 



NEW ENGLAND ORDER PROTECTION, P. C. 
LOUNSBURY LODGE, NO. 126. 

Da^e of Organization. — October 17, 1889. 

Objects of the Organization. — Fraternal insurance. 

Number of Members. — Sixty-five. 

Present Officers. — Warden, Gustav Pitzer ; Vice 
Warden, John B. Cloff; Treasurer, Henry A. Wood; 
Secretary, Charles H. Ferris. 



ORDER OF FIERMAN, HUMBOLDT LODGE, 
NO. 6, O. D. H. S. (German.) 

Objects. — Beneficiary. 

Date of Organization. — 1889. 

Number of Members. — Forty-four. 

Present Officers. — President, John Neugebauer; 
Recording Secretary, Adolf Danke ; Financial Secretary, 
Gustave Moeller; Treasurer, Carl Schaub. 

319 



DAUGHTERS OF HERMAN, LOUISA LODGE, 
NO. 6, H. O. D. S. 

Objects of Organization. — Sociability, insurance 
an.'i charity. 

Date oi Organization. — October 27, 1889. 

Number of Members. — Twenty-six. 

Present Officers. — President, Mrs. Theresa Weh- 
rile; Vice President, Eertha Nengebauer; Recording 
Secretary, Elsie Durbeck; Financial Secretary, Bar- 
bara Danire; Treasurer, Louise Malmo. 



ITALIAN MUTUAL BENEVOLENT INDEPEN- 
DENT SOCIETY. 

Objects of the Organization. — Welfare of its mem- 
bers and parliamentary practice. 

Date of Organization. — Founded Oct. 14, 1895 ; in- 
corporated May 30, 1896. 

Number of Members. — About 40. 

Officers. — J. Fanzilli, President ; J. Disesa, Vice 
President ; J. Porcelli, Recording Secretary : V. Cinquie, 
Treasurer ; L. Venegia, S. Cocchia, S. Romano, Trus- 
tees; S. Pisacreto, G. Berardino, Flag Bearers; M. Da- 
mato. Sergeant of Arms ; Frabut Coca, Emidio Coppa, 
Gaetano Dicesase, Jury. 



WELCOME STRANGER LODGE, No. 364, ORDER 
SONS OF ST. GEORGE. 

Objects of the Organization. — Beneficial. 

Date of Organization. — November 12, 1891. 

Number of Members. — One hundred. 

Present Officers. — W. President, George Holt; 
Vice-President, John Ashworth; Secretary, George E. 
Goodwin. 

«60 



GERMAN SICK BENEFIT SOCIETY FREUND- 
SHAFTZ BUND. 

Objects of the Organization. — To take care of its 
sick members. 

Date of Organization. — April lo, 1870. 

Number of Members. — Forty-four. 

Present Officers. — President, Paul T. Berg; Vice- 
President, William C. Jesse ; Recording Secretary, Gus- 
tav Thieme ; Finance Secretary, Henry C. Froeb ; Treas- 
urer, Adam Schmidt. 



DIVISION No. I, ANCIENT ORDER OF 
HIBERNIANS. 

Objects of the Organization. — To promote friend- 
ship, unit_v and Christian charity among its members, 
b)^ raising or supporting a fund of money for maintain- 
ing the aged, sick, blind and infirm members, for the 
legitimate expenses of the order, and for no other pur- 
pose whatsoever. 

Date of Organization. — May 26, 1890. 

Number of Members. — Forty-five. 

Officers. — President, Dr. Thomas F. Clune; Vice- 
President, Richard O'Gorman ; Rec. Secretary, John H. 
Moore; Fin. Secretary, Daniel Hogan; Treasurer, Pat- 
rick F. Slattery. 



LADIES' AUXILIARY TO THE ANCIENT 
■ ORDER OF HIBERNIANS. 

Objects of the Organization. — To promote friend- 
ship, unity and Christian charity among its members by 
raising or supporting a fund of money for maintaining 
the aged, sick, blind and infirm mem1)ers. 

Organized Feb. 13, 1896. 

Number of Members. — Thirty. 

Officers. — Nellie Deloughery, President; Annie 
Connolly, Vice-President; Amiie McAulifife, Rec. Sec; 
Hannah Burke, Fin. Sec. ; Nora DriscoU, Treasurer. 

S51 



ROBERT EMMET CLUB, CLAN-NA-GAEL. 

Objects of the Organization. — The independence of 
Ireland. 

Date of Organization. — February, 1892. 

Number of Members. — Thirty. 

President, James M. Creagh; Vice-President, Hugh 
McCarthy ; Rec. Secretary, John F. Moore ; Fin. Secre- 
tary, Daniel Hogan ; Treasurer, Patrick F. Slattery. 



SOUTH NORWALK LODGE, No. 185, ORDER 
BRITH ABRAHAM. 

Objects of the Organization. — Sick and death 
benefit. 

Date of Organization. — May 12, 1895. 

Number of Members. — Seventy-eight. 

Present Officers. — M. Baratz, President; Philip Ny- 
good, Secretary. 



ST. JOSEPH ROMAN AND GREEK CATHOLIC 
SICK BENEVOLENT AND CHURCH SOCIETY. 

Objects. — Paying sick benefits, and in cases of 
death causing to perform the burial ceremonies accord- 
ing to Roman and Greek Catholic rites, and working in 
the interest of said churches. 

Date of Organization. — April 24, 1898. 

Number of Members. — One hundred and thirty. 

Present Officers. — President (Emery Monsport 
since October, 1901), Julius Elias, the organizer of the 
society, and president from its organization to October, 
1901 ; Vice-President, Miss Elizabeth Keri; Clerk, Paul 
Lengyel (since October, 1901, Emery Monsport up to 
Octor, 1901) ; Secretary, Steven Pramer ; Treasurer, Jos- 
eph Kerekes. 



THE FIRST HUNGARIAN HUNYADI SICK AND 
BExMEVOLENT SOCIETY. 

Objects of the Organization. — Giving financial aid 
in case of sickness. 

Date of Organization. — July 25, 1891. 

Number of Members. — Fifty-four. 

Present Officers. — President, Steven Balazs ; Vice- 
President, John Kvancz ; Clerk, Joseph Hadhazi ; Secre- 
tary, Daniel Gal ; Treasurer, John Pasko ; Controller, 
Steven Kecskis. 



FIRST HUNGARIAN SICK BENEFIT SOCIETY. 

Object. — Paying sick benefits. 

Date of organization. — August 9, 189 1. 

Number of Members. — Seventy-one. 

Present OfBcers. — President, Joseph Schon; Vice- 
President, Emery Transport; Clerk, Steven Pramer; 
Secretary, John Ungvari ; Treasurer, John Fedor ; Con- 
troller, Steven Simonszky. 



RAKOCZY SICK BENEVOLENT SOCIETY, 

(Being a branch of the Bridgeport Rakoczy Sick Benev 
olent Society). « 

Objects. — Aiding sick members financially, and life 
insurance. 

Date of Organization. — July 24, 1901. 

Number of Members. — Forty-one. 

Present Officers. — President, John Loncsak; Vice- 
President, Michael Draskoczy ; Clerk and Secretary, 
Joseph Makkay; Treasurer, John Rochrick. 



NORWALK MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 

Objects of Organization. — To devise and carry into 
eflfect measures for our mutual improvement ; to pro- 
mote a good understanding and harmonious intercourse 

853 



with each other; and to secure a uniformity in profes- 
sional fees. 

Date of Organization. — December 14, 1868. 

Number of Members. — Eleven. 

Present Officers.— President, L, M. Allen, M. D.; 
Vice-President, A. N. Clark, M. D.; Secretary, H. C. 
Sherer, M. D. 



LINCOLN COUNCIL, No. 4, ORDER OF UNITED 
AMERICAN MECHANICS. 

Objects of the Organization. — The objects are to 
promote the interests, elevate the character and secure 
the happiness of the members. To assist each other in 
every way possible. To encourage each other in busi- 
ness. To establish a sick and funeral fund. To assist 
the widows and orphans of deceased members. To aid 
members, who have become incapable of following their 
usual vocations in obtaining situations suitable to their 
afflictions. To defend ourselves from the injurious com- 
petition of foreign emigrants and our Government from 
their corrupting influence • and to adopt such measures 
as may best accomplish these desirable ends. 

Date of Organization. — February 6, 1893. 

Number of IMembers. — Ninety-eight. 

Present Officers. — Counselor, John H. Plander; 
Vice-Counselor, James E. Stevens ; Jr. Ex-Counselor, 
John S. Seymour; Sr. Ex-Counselor, Fred W. Weed; 
Chaplain, Rev. G. Haulenbeck ; Rec. Secretary, C. H. 
Adams ; Asst. .Secretary, J. L. Brundage ; Financial Sec- 
retary, Frederick Scofield ; Treasurer, Henry A. Wood ; 
Inductor, William D. Piatt; Examiner, Edw. Norton; 
Inside Protector, C. H. Ferris; Outside Protector, C. S. 
Dauchy ; Trustees, James E. Stevens, Edw. L. Gray, 
George Cummings ; Organist, William Q. Merriam. 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATION- 
ARY ENGINEERS, No. 13, OF SOUTH 
NORWALK, CONN. 

The organization is based upon the following ob- 
jects: — The better education of its memxbers in the art 

864 



and science of steam engineering. To protect the in- 
terests of competent engineers in their vocation. To 
enroll all competent engineers in this organization. Im- 
parting information beneficial to the trade. Assisting 
members out of employment to obtain the sam-c. To 
procure by legal enactment greater safety in the opera- 
tion of steam plants. 

Date of Organization. — July 12, 1893. 

Number of Members. — Nine active, four honorary. 

Present Officers. — President, T. R. Fancher; Vice- 
President, N. L TMcserve; Treasurer and Financial Sec- 
retary, H. S. Pickering; Deputy President, Recording 
and Corresponding Secretary, L. J. Jones ; Conductor 
and Doorkeeper, Frank Caffery ; Trustees, Patrick Hen- 
nessy, G. H. Howard, William Johnson; Education 
Committee, N. L Meserve, L. J. Jones; Examining 
Committee, H. Pickering, L. J. Jones, G. H. Howard. 



NORWALK HAT TRIMMERS' ASSOCIATION. 

Objects of the Organization. — Mutual benefit and 
protection. 

Date of Organization. — 1858. 

Number of Members. — Two hundred and twenty. 

Present Officers. — President, D. Fenton Pomeroy; 
Vice-Pre.sident, David Bernard; Secretary, John W. 
Sculley; Treasurer, Stephen H. Carlin. 



HAT TRIMMERS' UNION OF SOUTH 
NORWALK, CONN. 

Objects of the Organization. — To protect the rights 
of each member and secure justice. 

Date of Organization. — April, 1885. 

Number of Mem.bers. — Four hundred. 

Present Officers. — Mrs. F. Joyce, President ; Mrs. 
Wilkinson, Vice-President; Miss E. Buxton, Secretary; 
Jennie Bedient, Treasurer. 

8U 



UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS 
AND JOINERS, LOCAL No. 746. 

Objects of the Organization. — To promote the wel- 
fare of the members in the trade; sick benefits. 

Date of Organization. — Feb. 4, 1891. 

Number of Members, — Fifty-tvv^o. 

Present Officers. — W. J. Sheehan, President ; A. H. 
Buttery, Vice President; S. O. Kemp, Secretary; W. A. 
Kellogg, Fin. Sec; E. K. St. John, Treas. 



NORWALK LODGE, No. 2881, G. U. O. of O. F. 

Objects of the Organization. — Take care of the 
sick and bury the dead. 

Date of Organization. — July 5th, 1887. 

Number of Members. — Twelve. 

Present Officers. — N. M. Jackson, P. S. ; J. D. 
Taylor, W. T. 




866 




NORWALK'S INDUSTRIES 



By Edmund E. Crowe. 

[HE opportunities for industrial growth 
possessed by Norwalk are not the 
good fortune of many New England 
towns. Located on the line of the 
greatest railroad in the world, with 
excellent harbor, close proximity to 
Greater New York, first-class electric 
railway system, water works, electric 
plants, handsome church edifices and hospital, well con- 
ducted public schools, up-to-date hotels, seaside resorts, 
nothing is lacking to attract industries to our town. 

What has been our progress along industrial lines 
during the past two hundred and fifty years? The pop- 
ular opinion is that Norwalk has not lived up to her 
possibilities and, therefore, has little reason for boast- 
ing. This may in a large measure be true, but to the 
close observer it is evident that Norwalk, after all, is 
not unimportant in the world of business. Her repu- 
tation for air compressors, hats, shoes, corsets, locks, 
hardware, woolen goods and other manufactured 
products is as favorable in all parts of the world as to 
our own people. 

In the work of compiling the statistics for the 
Twelfth Census of the United States, just com.pleted, 
the Director of the Census, in order to show the extent 
of the concentration of the manufactures of Connecti- 
cut, selected 6i cities and towns and appointed special 
agents to collect the statistics. In the Census Bulletin 
issued Nov. 9th, 1901, Norwalk's record was given in 
the table of urban manufactures, as follows: 

Number of establishments, 247; capital, $4,129,841 ; 
proprietors and firm members,, 265. 

Wage Earners. — Average number, 3,172; total 
wages, $1,586,509. 

Miscellaneous expenses, $296,075 ; cost of material 
used, $2,261,195. 

Products. — Value, $5,097,720; rank, 16; per cent, 
of total, 1.4. 

Population. — Total, 19,932 ; rank, 8 ; per cent of 
total, 2.2. 

The following information is invaluable in consid- 
ering our industrial standing at this time, furnishing as 

867 



it does accurate statistics gathered by the special census 
agents for the census year 1900: 

Capital. — Land, $367,084; buildings, $592,205; 
machinery, tools and implements, $i,009,Vi9; cash and 
sundries, $2,160,833; total, $4,129,841. 

Salaried officials, clerks. Etc. — Number, 124; sala- 
ries, $150,776. 

Average number of wage earners and total wages. 
— Average number, 3,172; wages, $1,586,509. Men, 16 
years and over, average number, 2,350; wages, $1,321,- 
645 ; women, 16 years and over, 791 ; wages, $259,085 ; 
children, under 16 years, 31; wages, $5,779. 

Miscellaneous expenses. — Rent of works, $45,532 ; 
taxes, $9,840; rent of offices, interest, etc., $168,795; 
contract work, $71,908; total, $296,075. 

Cost of materials used. — Principal materials, in- 
cluding mill supplies and freight, $2,202,470; fuel and 
rent of power and heat, $58,725; total, $2,261,195. 

Value of products, including custom work and re- 
pairing, $5,097,720. 

It is intended by the writer to record in a general 
way what Norwalk has to-day as a result of her indus- 
trial existence. With changing years industries have 
come and gone. It will be of interest, however, to go 
back a few years and see what our people did in early 
days and observe how few of the goods manufactured 
here then are made at this time. 

Below we quote a few statistics of Norwalk com- 
piled in 1845: 

Comb factory, i ; value of manufactures, $600 ; 
capital, $300; employees, 3. 

Cotton mill, i ; spindles, 328 ; cotton consumed, 
41,000 lbs.; yarn manufactured, 35,200 tbs.; value, 
$5,280. Cotton batting manufactured, 11,315 tbs.; 
value, $668.90; capital, $3,000; male employees, 9; fe- 
male employees, 7. 

Screw factory, i ; screws manufactured, 10,000 
gross; value, $5,000; capital, $3,000; employees, 7. 

Shovel, Spade, Fork and Hoe factory, i ; value of 
manufactures, $225; capital, $100; employees, 2. 

Metal Button factory, i ; buttons manufactured, 
5,000 gross; value, $4,000; capital, $500; employees, 5. 

Flouring mill, i ; flour manufactured, 2,300 lbs. ; 
value, $13,200; capital, $8,000; employees, 3. 

Tanneries, 2; hides tanned, 9,900; leather manu- 
factured, value $7,000; capital, $7,000; employees, 7. 



868 



Boots made, 3,189 pairs; shoes, 90,491 pairs; value, 
$77,189; male employees, 274; female employees, 202. 

Snuff, Tobacco and Segars manufactured, value, 
$11,900; employees, 11. 

Lumber prepared for market, 43,350 feet; value, 
$2,875 J employees, 9. 

Fire Wood prepared for market, 200 cords ; value, 
$660; employees, 3. 

Watch, Jewelry, Etc. — Factory, i ; value of manu- 
facturers, $1,000; capital, $500; employees, 2. 

Saddle, Trunk and Flarness factory, i ; value of 
manufactures, $2,000; capital, $1,000; employees, 2. 

Hat and Cap factories, 11; hats and caps manu- 
factured, 36,000; value, $71,840; capital, $27,500; em- 
ployees, 83. 

Coach, Wagon and Sleigh factories, 4; value of 
manufactures, $19,845 ; capital, $800 ; employees, 23. 

Tallow Candle factory, i ; candles manufactured, 
25,000 tbs.; value, $2,500; capital, $800; employees, 2. 

Chair and Cabinet factories, 3 ; value of manufac- 
tures, $4,200; capital, $ 2,200; employees, 7. 

Tin factories, 2 ; value of manufactures, $12,500 ; 
capital, $13,000; employees, 6. 

Felt Cloth factory, i ; cloth manufactured, 75,000 
yds.; value, $67,500; male employees, 15; female em- 
ployees, 6; capital, $20,000; wool consumed, 80,000 lbs. 

Stone and Earthenware factories, 3 ; A^lue of man- 
ufactures, $26,000; capital, $26,000; male employees, 35. 

Confectionery factories, 2; value of manufactures, 
$6,400; capital, $1,000; employees, 4. 

Marble Monument factory, i ; value of m.anufac- 
tures, $3,000; capital, $1,000; employees, 3. 

All other articles manufactured, value, $102,900; 
capital, $48,000; employees, 63. 

Sheep, all sorts, 437; value, $437; wool produced, 
1,388 tbs.; value, $416.40. 

Horses, 228; value, $10,563; neat cattle, 1,050; 
value, $14,122; swine, 1,023; value, $7'499- 

Sperm Oil consum.ed, 125 galls.; value, $125. 

Anthracite Coal consurned, 100 tons ; value, $500. 

Indian Corn, 9,632 bu., value, $5,779.20; wheat, 813 
bu., value, $813; rye, 3,894 bu., value, $2,920.50; oats, 
13,125 bu., value, $5,250; potatoes, 10,784 bu., value, 
$5,392; other esculents, 5,212 bu., value. $1,563.60. 

Hay, 1,777 tons, value, $22,292; fruit, 14,772 bu., 
value, $2,528. 



869 



Butter 64,972 bu., value, $10,395; cheese, 1,175 ^s., 
value, $70.50; honey, 485 fbs., value, S48.50. 

Poultry, value, $3,098; eggs, $7,000; charcoal man- 
ufactured, 1,300 bu., value, $130. 

In 1819 John C. Pease and John M. Niles arranged 
and had published a Gazetteer of the states of Rhode 
Island and Connecticut, which contained the following 
reference to Norwalk: 

"This town possesses considerable advantages for 
navigation, and the interests thereof are continually 
increasing. There are 16 vessels of every description 
belonging to the town, of which there are six regular 
packets that constantly ply between this place and New 
York. One of them is employed exclusively in the 
conveyance of passengers. The remaining ten vessels 
consists of sloops and schooners, and are employed in 
the coasting trade to New York and elsewhere. 

In addition to the pursuits of agriculture, naviga- 
tion and commerce, some attention has been bestowed 
on manufactures. There are i woolen factory, 2 cotton 
factories, one upon an extensive scale, i slitting and 
rolling mill, 5 grain mills, two of which are merchants' 
or flouring mills, 3 fulling mills and cloth dressing es- 
tablishments, 4 carding machines and 2 tanneries. 

"There are, in the village, nearly 100 houses, a 
number of trading houses, dry goods and grocery 
stores, I bookstore, several private ofBces, a post office, 
a newspaper and printing establishment, 2 churches, 
and several mechanics' shops. There are in Norwalk 
13 primary schools and i academy,, 16 mercantile 
stores, 7 public inns, 3 physicians, 3 clergymen and 2 
attorneys." 

It will readily be seen that the contrast of former 
times to the present era of large manufacturing estab- 
lishments is very great. Still, there is evidence that 
even in our earlier days the spirit of progress possessed 
the people to a marked degree. The fear entertained 
by some that the monster, monopoly, is a nineteenth 
century production, may be dispelled by a careful con- 
sideration of the request made by one Samuel Delu- 
cena, who evidently v/as a moving spirit in our town, 
nearly one hundred and fifty years ago. The promoters 
of huge combinations of capital which some predict will 
be ruinous to our nation, have a great deal to learn 
from our ancient friend. The following petition appears 
in a volume on Connecticut Industries covering the pe- 

360 



riod 1 764- 1 789 on file at the State Capitol Library in 
Hartford: 

"To the Honored General Assembly of his Majes- 
ty's English Colony of Conn, in N. E. in America to 
be holden in Hartford on the Second Thursday of In- 
stant May. The Memorial of Samuel De Lucena, now 
Resident in Norvvalk, in the Co. of F'd, humbly shew- 
eth that your Memorialise was Born and Brought up a 
Merchant in the City of N. Y. in Amer., but finding of 
late years that it is hard making returns to Europe 
from whence he had his English Goods, and thereupon 
your Honors memorialise hath now Learned the Skill 
of making Pot Ash and for that Purpose hath by the 
Approbation and Consent of the Good People of Nor- 
walk Actually Disbursed and Layd out near two Hun- 
dred Pounds Lawful Money in Building and preparing 
to carry on that Business in making Pot x^-sh, which 
Buildings are erected at the South End of the Town of 
Norwalk which affair if Carried with Success your 
Honours Memorialist hopes may prove of Good Ad- 
vantage both to himself and the Government in Gen- 
eral in Case he can have the Approbation and Assis- 
tance of the Hon'd Assembly in the case whereupon 
your Honours Memorialist humbly praise that this As- 
sembly will pass an Act forbidding any other person or 
Persons setting up any work or Carrying on the Busi- 
ness of making Potash in the Colony of Connecticut 
within the district of twenty miles of the place where 
his work is now erected or in some other way pass 
some other Act that may be for his Incouragement as 
this Assembly in their great wisdom shall think proper 
for his Benefit that he may proceed without Interruption 
for some certain term of years as he is the first under- 
taken to carry on that Business in this County and your 
Memorialist as in duty bound shall ever Pray. 

"Dated at Norwalk, the 6th dav of Mav, Anno 
Domi, 1765. SAMUEL DELUCENA." 

We have striven to procure a list of those engaged 
in industrial pursuits in Norwalk, together with such 
other information as will serve a historical purpose. 

AIR AND GAS COMPRESSORS. 

The Norwalk Iron Works Company, manufacturers 
of Air and Gas Compressors, is the largest manufac- 
turing enterprise of the Norwalks. The foundries and 
machine shops are situated on the Norwalk River with 

161 



ample wharf facilities and front on Water street a dis- 
tance of 800 feet. 

The most important buildings are of recent con- 
struction, being made with especial reference to the 
business and are equipped with electric cranes, modern 
machine tools, and every up-to-date shop appliance. 

Three hundred and seventy-five men find em.ploy- 
ment here and from the U. S. Census reports it is found 
that the pay roll is over one-seventh the entire wages 
paid in the town. For many years vSundays and legal 
holidays have been the only days of cessation from 
work. 

The products of this factory are compressors for 
air and gases. The machines are from the designs and 
patents of Ebenezer Hill, the present manager of the 
company. 

Prominent in the mechanical affairs of the com- 
pany have been John A. Slater, superintendent, and 
Henry H. Jennings, draughtsman, both deceased, and 
Henry P. Morgan, now chief draughtsman. Stephen 
St. John for over 35 years and Oliver E. Weed for 31 
years in the employ of the compny and its predecessor 
as foremen are well known to all veteran mechanics of 
the town. 

The officers of the company (1902) are: E. Beard, 
president; E. Hill, general manager and treasurer; E. 
Hill, Jr., superintendent; H. H. Mossman, foundry 
agent. The directors are E. Beard, John H. Ferris, W. 
F. Bishop, E. Hill and E. Hill, Jr. " 

For many years previous to their deaths, Geo. G. 
Bishop and Henry L Hoyt were directors in the com- 
pany. 

The Norwalk Iron Works Co. is the successor of 
the Norwalk Iron Works Corporation, organized Oct. 
5th, 1866. This corporation was organized for the pur- 
pose of acquiring and bringing to Norwalk the shafting 
and machine business of Bullard & Parsons of Hart- 
ford, but before that was consummated the business of 
George Dwight, Jr., of Springfield, Mass., was bought 
and the company engaged in the manufacture of steam 
pumps. 

Prominent in the early afifairs of this company were 
Henry I. Hoyt, Geo. G. Bishop, Ebenezer Hill, (de- 
ceased 1875, father of the manager of the present com- 
pany), H. H. Elwell, Dudley^P. Ely, A. E. Beard, 
George Dwight, Jr., and O. T. Earle. D. P. Ely was 
first president and was succeeded by Ebenezer Flill and 



Henry I. Hoyt. The secretary was Georgfe Dwight, 
Jr., followed from 1868 to 1871 by E. J. Hill (our pres- 
ent Congressman). O. T. Earle was superintendent, 
followed by J. B. Waring and Fred. C. Rowland. 

At times a large business was transacted in steam 
pumps and engines, many being sent all over the coun- 
try, particularly to the South. In 1874 the property and 
afTairs were sold to the present owners and soon there- 
after a radical change was made in the line of manu- 
facture. The first compound air compressor patent was 
taken out by Mr. E. Hill in 1876. This has been fol- 
lowed by many others referring to improvements in 
principles and in details. 

STRAW HATS. 

In 1873 John P. Beatty and Dexter Dennis formed 
a partnership for the purpose of pressing and trimming 
foreign straw hats ; also palm leaf hats, which at that 
time were braided in large quantities in New England. 
The business was carried on in a building occupying 
the present site of the Martin Bates factory on Spring 
street, South Norwalk. This partnership continued 
until 1879, when the business was taken by Mr. Dennis 
and carried on for two years in the Norwalk Iron Works 
building. On Mr. Dennis' death in 1881, a partner- 
ship was formed by Lloyd E. Dennis and Abiathar 
Blanchard under the firm name of Dennis & Blanchard, 
which has continued to the present time. In 1885 the 
firm began the manufacture of hats from imported 
Chinese straw braids in addition to their foreign hat 
business. The braid hat work has increased until the 
principal attention is now given to that department. In 
1893 the business was moved from the Norwalk Iron 
Works to the present location in the buildings at 132 
Water street. A bleachery was erected in 1898 for the 
purpose of bleaching straw braid. The whole estab- 
lishment now gives employment to seventy-five hands 
during the busy season, work usually beginning in 
August and lasting until the first of June. 

Arthur C. Wheeler, manufacturer of straw hats, 13 
Butler street, Norwalk. This establishment for many 
years has carried on a prosperous business. The goods 
manufactured include all varieties of men's and women's 
straw hats. The workmanship has been of such a char- 
acter that Mr. Wheeler's name in connection with the 
straw hat business is favorably known throughout the 



country. The factory was established in 1S57 by John 
P. Beatty & Bro. In September, 1888, Mr. Wheeler 
took possession where he now does a thriving busi- 
ness. The factories cover one and one-half acres of 
ground. During the busy season in the neighborhood 
of two hundred operatives are employed. 

CORSETS. 

The R. & G. Corsets are so universally known that 
it is a matter of pride for a Norwalker to refer to the 
fact that this well known commodity is 3'nanufactured 
in our midst. The manufacture of corsets in South 
Norwalk was commenced in 1880 by Roth & Gold- 
schmidt in the factory on Water street erected for the 
purpose, now occupied by Austin & Craw. The firm 
soon found the factory too small for the rapidly in- 
creasing business and in order to meet the demands of 
the trade, they had erected on Ann street the present 
commodious and model five story factory which they 
now occupy. The building is equipped with every 
modern factory convenience. The employees are 
treated liberally as to wages and are the recipients of 
the blessings derived from a well selected library, ample 
protection from fire and many other comforts. The R. 
& G. Corset Co. was incorporated January i, 1897, 
with a capital stock of $200,000. Th e officers are : 
Emile H. Roth, president; William A. Marble, vice 
president ; Julius Goldschmidt, secretary and treasurer. 
The New York offices are at 395-399 Broadway and 
21-23 Mercer street. Charles T. Dimond is the super- 
intendent of the South Norwalk factory. One thous- 
and employees are given steady work during the year 
and as a result the firm produces 650 dozen corsets 
daily. The quality of goods manufactured is first class 
and as a consequence the firm's business is increasing 
yearly. 

CIGARS AND TOBACCO. 

The Old Well Cigar Co., 83 Washington street, S. 
N. EstabHshed 1868; incorporated t88o; capital, $10,- 
000. Officers: Matthew Corbett, president; Christian 
Swartz, secretary and treasurer. Employees, 40; daily 
output, 10,000 cigars. 

Fernandez-Ernst Co., 83 Washington street, S. N. 
Manufacturer of all Havana cigars. Established July, 

364 



1900; capital, $11,000. Officers: Modesto Fernandez, 
president; George C. Ernst, secretary; Charles C. 
Swartz, treasurer. Employees, 40; daily output, 6,000 
cigars. 

The Hoyt & Olmstead Co., 12 South Main street, 
S. N. Established 1877; incorporated 1885; capital, 
$10,000, Officers: George M. Olmstead, ])resident; T, 
G. Hoyt, secretary and treasurer. Employees, 30 ; daily 
output, 5,000 cigars. 

John Oldenschlager, 104 Washington street, S. N. 
Established 1883, Manufacturer of Cigars and To- 
bacco. Employees, 9; daily output, 1,200 cigars. 

John T. Sheehan, 36 Main street, N. Established 
June I, 1895. Employees, 5; daily output, 1,000 cigars. 

John Fitzmaurice, Main street, N. Established 
Sept. 13, 1900. Employees, 5; daily output, 1,000 cigars. 

Other makers of cigars: John Schaefter, Newtown 
avenue, N. ; S. K. Stanley, 142 Main street, N. ; John 
Mohring, 166 Washington street, S. N.; Frederick T. 
Schlitt, Stuart avenue, S, N. 

LOCKS AND BUILDERS' HARDWARE. 

The Norwalk Lock Co., S. N., for many years has 
been one of our most important manufacturing estab- 
lishments. It was incorporated in 1856 During the 
busy season the works have employed on an average 
of 400 to 500 hands. The capital of the company was 
originally $50,000 which later was increased to $230,000. 
Following are the officers: E. Beard, president and 
treasurer; D. E. Disbrow, secretary. Directors, John 
H. Ferris, E. Hill, Augustus F. Beard, A. N. Wildman, 
W. F. Bishop, Robert H. Swayze, E. Beard. The 
specialties of the company include every variety of locks 
and builders' hardware, with several hundred patented 
and leading designs. The company are general de- 
signers, founders and workers of artistic house trim- 
mings in brass, bronze and iron. Their New York 
office is at 32 Warren street, where they carry a heavy 
stock of goods. 

The Lockwood Manufacturing Company, manu- 
facturers of Builders' Hardware, was incorporated May 
19th, 1888, under the Connecticut laws, with a paid-in 
capital of $200,000; the officers being Henry S. Lock- 
wood, president and treasurer ; Washington Youngs, 
secretary. The works cover a large area extending 
through almost from Day to Water street. South Nor- 
ses 



walk, and consists of a series of buildings ranging m 
height from one to four stories. In the various depart- 
ments of the works from two hundred and fifty to three 
hundred operatives are employed. Mr. Lockwood per- 
sonally supervises the factory, his extended experience 
insuring a successful business. 

WORKERS IN METALS. 

The J. W. Craw Laundry Machinery Co., 40 Water 
street, S. N., manufacturers of Laundry Machinery and 
Hospital Specialties. Incorporated 1899. Capital, 
$7,000. Employees, 12. John W. Craw, president ; 
Frank C. Craw, secretary and treasurer. 

William G. Le Count, 246-278 East avenue, E. N., 
manufacturer of Machinists' Tools. Established by 
Charles W. Le Count in 1863. Succeeded by William 
G. Le Count in 1895. 

Julius W. Miller, 136 Water street, S. N., manu- 
facturer of all kinds of Hatters' Tools and Machinery. 
Established 1893 by Julius W. Miller. Employs 7 men. 
Output about $500 monthly. 

Norwalk Pattern Works and Manufacturing Co., 
Keyser avenue, E. N. Established in 1896 by Aisthorpe 
& Hatchman, manufacturers of Stoves, Ranges, Wood 
and Iron Patterns and general jobbing castings. The 
firm employs thirty hands. The business is increasing 
to such an extent that the capacity of the plant is short- 
ly to be doubled. The firm at present turns out mer- 
chandise to the amount of $3,000 monthlv. 

Automatic Tool Co., R. R. avenue, E. N. Estab- 
lished by C. H. Jimmerson and E. B. Robertson in 
1900. Manufacturers of Sash Locks, Curtain Fixtures, 
Belt Hooks, Small Tools and Milk Bottle Stoppers. 
Ten men are employed and goods amounting to $1,000 
monthly are manufactured. The firm has a capacity 
for turning out 1,000,000 Milk Stoppers daily. 

The Duncan Iron Railing Works, 10 Steamboat 
Place, S. N. Established by Duncan & Waterbury in 
1865. Succeeded by William H. Hoyt in 1883, who 
continued the business under the same firm name. 
Manufacturer of Iron Fences and Railings. Em- 
ployees, 4. 

William A. Wheeler, 133 Water street, S. N. Es- 
tablished by William A. Wheeler in 1885. The original 
plant burned in 1888, but was rebuilt the same year. 
Manufacturer of Hatters' Tools and Caps for water 

866 



and gas pipes. A brass and iron foundry is run in con- 
nection with the factory. Employees, 8. 

Norwalk Brass Co., Mechanics street, N. Estab- 
lished December, 1900, by C. F. Mills, A. D. Crossley 
and H. E. Dann. The company was reorganized in 
1901 with a capital stock of $50,000. Manufacturers of 
Brass, Bronze and Aluminum goods, Launch Engines, 
Etc. Officers: Wallace Dann, president; Reed Hav- 
iland, secretary; Oscar H. Banks, treasurer; H. E. 
Dann, general manager. The company employs 50 men 
and from the rapid growth of the concern the industry 
will undoubtedly soon be one of the most important in 
Norwalk. 

Meeker's Union Foundry, Smith street, N. Estab- 
lished in 1887 by A. J. Meeker, S. B. Meeker and E. S. 
Meeker. The firm manufactures a large line of Stoves 
and Furnaces and does a general jobbing business. 
Thirt_v men afe employed. 

Ephraim Merritt, 52 Water street, N. Established 
in 1859. Iro^ Fences, boat repairing and jobbing. 

Arnold & Co., Floyt street, N. Manufacturers of 
Door Hangers and Hardware Specialties, Stoves and 
Ranges. Established in 1870 by Arnold & Son. Suc- 
ceeded in 1883 by Arnold, Doane & Co. Later suc- 
ceeded by F. E. Smith and A. J. Doane under the pres- 
ent firm name. Mr. Doane assumed the business at the 
death of Mr. Smith, and at the death of Mr. Doane in 
1901 the control of the business reverted to the estate. 
The concern does a prosperous business and gives em- 
ployment to 60 men. 

CONFECTIONERY. 

F. R. Starr, 62-64 Wall street, N. Established at 
3 Wall street in 18S4 Moved to 39 Main street in 1886 
and to the present quarters in 1891. Manufacturer of 
Ice Cream and Confectioner}-. 

F. A. Lane, 51 Washington street, S. N. Estab- 
lished in May, 1889. Mr. Lane does an extensive cater- 
ing business and manufactures Ice Cream and Confec- 
tionery. 

Harrie A. Smith, 39 Main street, N. Established 
in 1897, succeeding John Colby. Manufacturer of Ice 
Cream nd Confectionerv. 

C. B. De Klynn & Son, 27 Main street, N. Manu- 
facturer of Ice Cream and Confectionery. The firm 
does an extensive bakery business. 

867 



K. Kasteantoes, 24 South Main street, S. N. Es- 
tablished in 1898. Manufacturer of Ice Cream and Con- 
fectionery. Employees, 3. 

Norwalk Confectionery Co., 21 Main street, N. 
Established in 1895 by John Boggraino. Manufactures 
Ice Cream and Confectionery. Employees, 4. 

SHIRTS AND SHIRT WAISTS. 

Hutchinson, Pierce & Co., whose large factory is 
situated on Merwin street, N., is one of the most sub- 
stantial establishments in Norwalk. Established in 
1840, the concern with the many changes occurring in 
the meantime, has gained a reputation enjoyed by few 
manufacturers of shirts and shirt waists in the country. 
The present company was incorporated in 1895. The 
officers are: H. B. Pierce, president and treasurer, and 
Ira Cole, vice president. The firm employs about 250 
hands and turns out a large product. The Star shirts, 
shirt-waists, and underwear of this house are familiar to 
the trade of the country for their uniform and superior 
workmanship. The factory comprises three large con- 
necting buildings, two of four stories, one three story 
high, giving a combined floor space of over 50,000 
square feet. 

FURS. 

The firm of Martin Bates, Jr., & Co., is one of the 
pioneer establishments in the line of furs, its origin 
dating back three generations when Martin Bates, 
father of the senior member of the present firm, estab- 
lished it at the beginning of the century just passed. 
This firm has recently moved into their new office and 
store in New York City, 23-29 Washington Place. The 
industry of cutting furs for hatters' use is of great im- 
portance to the hat manufacturing interest, and no firm 
in the business has the confidence of hat manufacturers 
more fully than that of Martin Bates, Jr., & Co. Their 
factory is located at 79-91 Spring street. South Nor- 
walk, and is under the management of Franklin A. 
Smith, who has had charge of it since it commenced 
business here in 1879. About ten years ago Mr. Smith 
purchased the Blanchard mill property and water rights 
at Silver Mine, some four miles north of Norwalk. The 
factory was remodelled and equipped with new machin- 
ery and has since been kept in operation in the manu- 

aos 



facturing of cheaper grades of hatters' fur for the firm. 
The goods manufactured by this firm are sought after 
by the leading hat manufacturers of the country and 
command the highest price on account of their uniform 
excellence. There are employed one hundred hands 
and are singularly noted for working full time at all 
seasons of the year. During the twenty-two years of 
their business here not a single Saturday's pay day has 
ever been missed ; they never run on short time, always 
having work ahead on order and contract. At the pres- 
ent time the demand for their goods far exceeds the 
capacity of their present facilities for manufacturing. 

Joseph J. Asch, manufacturer of Hatters' Furs, oc- 
cupies a commodious factory on Monroe street. The 
firm was established in 1876 and has grown to be one 
of the important industries in South Norwalk. A fire 
destroyed the originl factory in 1884, the building now 
occupied by Mr. Asch on the old site being rebuilt. In 
connection with the extensive fur business the firm car- 
ries on hat forming to a considerable extent. The im- 
portation of all kinds of furs used in the manufacture 
of hats is an important factor in the business of the 
firm. Mr. Asch gives employment to about two hun- 
dred operatives, 

R. G. Millard, West Norwalk. Established in 1875. 
Manufacturer of Hatters' Furs. Employs 16 hands. 

OVERCOATINGS. 

Norwalk Mills Co., located on the line of the N. 
Y., N. H. & H. R. R. at Winnipauk, N., is one of the 
oldest and m.ost substantial manufactories of the town. 
The company was originally established in 1863 and 
reorganized in October, 1877. The capital stock is 
$100,000. The officers are as follows: J. A. Osborne, 
president; E. J. Hill, vice president; F. A. Hill, secre- 
tary and treasurer; T. J. West, general manager. The 
company manufactures Overcoatings exclusively. The 
quality of the goods is of such a high order that the 
product of the extensive plant is favorably known 
throughout the country. The area of the plant is 
480x200 feet. Two hundred employees are given steady 
employment. As a result of their labor the annual out- 
put of the factory is 300,000 yards. 



BOXES. 

Charles S. Trowbridge, 129 Washington street, S. 
N., manufacturer of all kinds of Paper Boxes and 
Wooden Cases. Established by Robert H. Rowan in 
i860. Succeeded by Charles S. Trowbridge in 1881. 
Mr. Trowbridge employs over one hundred box makers. 
It is the largest box manufacturing establishment in 
Norwalk, having an extensive business throughout New 
England and New York State. 

Charles S. St. John, maker of Cigar Boxes and 
dealer in Ribbons' 2^ Marshall street, S. N. Estab- 
lished by Giles Haulenbeck in 1873. Succeeded by 
Charles S. St. John in 1888. Employees, 5 ; daily output, 
400 cigar boxes. The first and only cigar box factory 
in Norwalk. 

Norwalk Box Co., 42 North Main street, S. N., 
manufcturers of Paper Boxes and Wooden Cases. In- 
corporated July 13, 1899. Henry F. Clark, president; 
F. A. Hine, secretary and treasurer; F. A. Burr, man- 
ager. 

William H. Knapp, 134 Water street, S. N., maker 
of all kinds of Wooden Boxes. Established in 1882 by 
Edward F. Knapp. Succeeded in 1897 by William. H. 
Knapp. Employs 10 men. Capacity, 250 boxes per 
day. 

POTTERY. 

One of the oldest manufactories in Norwalk is the 
Norwalk Pottery Co., located at 6 Smith street, foot 
of Mill Hill. It w^as established in 1833 by Asa E. 
Smith, succeeded in turn by Asa Smith, Hobert Smith 
and James Lycett. The firm as now conducted was es- 
tablished in 1898 by Thomas L. Peck. All kinds of 
Pottery is manufactured. 

FELTS. 

Lounsbury, Bissell & Co., Winnipauk, N. Estab- 
lished in 1840 by J. D. Lounsbury, who was succeeded 
by E. C. Bissell. The company was incorporated in 
1869 with a capital stock of $200,000. The following 
are the present officers: C. C. Betts, president; E. L. 
Boyer, secretary and treasurer. E. L. Boyer, J. C. Ran- 
dall, G. S. Holmes, J. A. Osborn, C. C. Betts, directors. 
The main mill is a large stone structure, 68x113 feet in 

370 



dimensions and three stories in height. The company's 
plant also includes many other buildings. All told the 
plant covers an area of about 50,000 square feet, fitted 
with every modern appliance and machmery. In times 
past the company manufactured all kinds of feltings 
and felt linings, but at present the capacity of the plant 
is taxed in the manufacture of gun wads. The com- 
pany gives employment to 60 operatives. 

SODA WATER. 

H. J. & G. S. Grumman, 41 Main street, N. Es- 
tablished in 1870 by Sylvester Grumman at 55 Main 
street. Succeeded by the present firm in 1882. Manu- 
facturers of all kinds of carbonated beverages. The 
firm's specialty is "The Olden Time Root Beer." This 
has been on the market over fifty years, the receipt for 
making the same having been handed down from their 
grandfather. The output of root beer is 15,000 gallons 
annually. The daily output of other beverages is 150 
cases. Employees, 10. 

Walter T. Gray, manufacturer of Soda and Mineral 
Waters. Established by Walter T. Gray in 1874. Suc- 
ceeded by Mrs. W. T. Gray, after husband's decease, in 
1895. Output 100 cases per day. Employees, 4. 

Baker & Curtis, 19 Wood street. Established by 
Samuel S. Baker and John W. Curtis in 1902. Manu- 
facturer of Soda Water and all carbonated beverages. 
Employ 2 men. Capacity, 50 cases daily. 

SHOES. 

One of the oldest industrial establishments in Fair- 
field county is the firm of Lounsbury, Mathewson & 
Co., manufacturers of Fine Shoes, at 5 Haviland street, 
S. N. Some of the original partners have withdrawn 
from the business, but a progressive policy has always 
characterized the firm, resulting in a prosperous busi- 
ness. The present partners in the firm are Ex-Gov- 
ernor George E. Lounsbury, Col. Edwin H. Mathew- 
son, Herbert A. Mathewson. Lewis R. Hurlbutt and 
George L. Rockwell. The company occupies a large 
brick building, thirty-eight feet front and two hundred 
and twenty-five feet deep, and four floors, supplied with 
the latest and best improved machinery for the making 
of shoes, and employs three hundred hands. The 
product of the factory is ladies' fine shoes. No shoe 

371 



manufactory enjoys a higher reputation for excellence 
of goods put upon the market. 

H. S. Brown, 172 Washington street, S. N. Es- 
tablished in 1896. Manufacturer of Children's Shoes. 
Employees, 8. Output, 175 pairs weekly. 

MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS. 

Austin & Craw, 71 Water street, S. N., manufac- 
turers of Toys, Games and Novelties. Established in 
1892. Employees, 15. 

Charles S. Ireland, 12 Elm Grove street, S. N., 
manufacturer and repairer of Awnings. 

United States Alcohol Refining Co., Day street, S. 
N. Incorporated in 1901 ; capital stock, $20,000. Offi- 
cers: R. J. McFarland, president; William B. Hubbell, 
treasurer; O. P. Kauffmann, secretary and chemist. 
Refiners of wood alcohols. Employs 2 men. Output, 
20 barrels daily. 

Tilly Carriage Works, 6.1 North Main street, S. N. 
Established 1874 by Henry Tilly. Manufacturer of 
Wagons, Carriages and Signs. Employs 9 men. 

Luther M. Wright, 3 Madison street, S. N. Estab- 
lished in 1886. Manufacturer of Wagons, Carriages 
and Automobiles. Mr. Wright has a commodious car- 
riage repository and does an extensive blacksmith busi- 
ness. He employs 20 men. 

Norwalk Launch Co., Pine Island. Established 
1899 by G. F. Betts, C. R. Taylor and C. L. Barker. 
Succeeded in 1902 by C. L. Barker, who conducts the 
business at the present time. The capacity of the plant 
is taxed to the utmost in the manufacture of Launches 
and Gas Engines. Ten men are employed. 

Andrew W. Fowler, Sail Maker, 149 Washington 
street, S. N. The business was originally established 
in 1868 by Benjamin Robinson, who carried on the 
business of sail making for thirty-three years. He was 
succeeded by Andrew W. Fowler. He manufactures 
Sails and Awnings. Mr. Fowler is 88 years of age and 
has been employed in the sail making business for 73 
years, having in his possession the documents showing 
when, at the age of 15 years, he was "bound out." 

Challenge Mfg. Co., 29 Haviland street, S. N. Es- 
tablished in 1899 by William H. Meeker. Manufacturer 
of Water Heaters and Gas Stoves. Employees, 15. 
Yearly output, 900 Heaters and 1,500 Stoves. 

Loxa Pharmaceutical Co. Established in 1889 by 

S7S 



G. C. Stillson. Succeeded in 1902 by Stillson-Powell 
Corporation. Manufacturers of Stillson's specific for 
chills and fever, "Loxa Tonic." 

Raymond Remedy Co., Elm Grove, S. N. Estab- 
lished in 1882 by A. A. Raymond. Manufacturers of 
Medicated Soaps. 

Dr. Dicks Medicine Co., 64 South Main street, S. 
N. Established June, 1901, by Miss Gertrude Bohan- 
nan. Manufacturers of Proprietary Medicine for rheu- 
matism and malaria. 

James L. Hoyt, 3 Cove street, E. N. Manufac- 
turer of the celebrated Le Count Cribbage Boards. 
Succeeded William G. Le Count in 1897. 

F. Boylston, Rowayton. Established in 1872 by 
Francis Boylston. Mr. Boylston has the distinction of 
building the first baby carriage, on springs, offered for 
sale in the United States. He is a large manufacturer 
of Invalid Chairs. Employees, 4. 

Hanlon Bros., 3-5 Wall street, N. Established in 
1880 by John J. and W. P. Hanlon. Manufacturers of 
Hanlon's Baking Powder and Shirt Waist Starch. Em- 
ployees, 6. Annual output, $60,000. 

Norwalk Hygeia Ice Mfg. & Refrigerating Co., 138 
Water street, S. N. Established in 1902 by Dufenbach 
& Johnson. Manufacturers of Ice. An important 
branch of the business is Cold Storage. Area of build- 
ing, 96x45. Capacity, 17 tons in 24 hours. Employees, 9. 
Colonial Mfg. Co., 3 Wall street, N. Established in 
1892 by H. E. Dann. Succeeded by present corporation 
in 1901. Capital, $60,000. H. E. Dann, president; W. 
A. Curtis, treasurer; F. E. Wilcox, secretary; F. S. 
Ambler, vice president and manager. Manufacturers 
of all kinds of horse remedies. 

G. N. McKibbin Mfg. Co., 52 Water street. S. N. 
Incorporated March, 1901. Manufacturers of a general 
line of machinery. G. N. McKibbin, president; W. R. 
Thompson, secretary and treasurer. Employees, 7. 

John G. Pugsley, manufacturer of the Universal 
and Excelsior Ankle Supporters and Straight Walking 
Soles. Established by Pugsley & Smith in 1886. Suc- 
ceeded in 1888 by Pugsley & Golden. Succeeded by 
Pugsley & Smith in 1889. Mr. Pugsley has carried on 
the business since 1890. Capacity, 100 pairs daily. Em- 
ployees, 6. 

Edwin L. Monroe, 19 Mechanic street, N. Estab- 
lished in 1897. Manufacturer of all kinds of Baskets. 

The Norwalk Extract Co., 1-5 Wall street, N. Es- 

878 



tablished in 1889 by F. S. Ambler & Co. Manufactur- 
ers of Flavoring Extracts and Grocer and Druggist 
Supplies. Employees, 5. 

E. H. Hotchkiss Co., 6-8 Hoyt street, N. Incor- 
porated in 1893. E. H. Hotchkiss, president; W. A. 
Curtis, secretary and treasurer. Manufacturers of 
Automatic Paper Fastening Machines and Automatic 
Tackers. The company does an extensive exporting 
business, sending goods to almost every country on the 
globe. The paper fastening machine is the only auto- 
matic machine of the kind in the market. Employees, 30. 

Curtis & Comstock, 32 Knight street, N. Estab- 
lished Jan. I, 1900, by Seymour Curtis and Willard S. 
Comstock. Manufacturers of Overalls and Mechanics' 
Clothing. Employees, 25. 

Pierson Mfg. Co., corner of Wall and H(gh streets, 
N. Established May, 1901. Manufacturers of Overalls 
and Mechanics' Clothing. Employees, 20. 

Jerome Paper Co., Water street, N. New York 
offices, 570 Seventh avenue. Established in 1890. Man- 
ufacturers of all kinds of Roll and Bunch Toilet Papers. 
Employees, 20. 

The Norwalk Poultry Yards, located on Water 
street, N. Established in December, 1900, by F. E. 
Vail and George A. Comstock. The yards have an area 
of five acres with 450 feet of buildings. The firm raises 
exhibition poultry, broilers and eggs for marketing. 

HATTING. 

Hat Forming Co., Railroad avenue, S. N. Incor- 
porated in 1874. Original capital stock, $10,000; in- 
creased to $35,000. Officers: Alden Solmans, presi- 
dent; W. H. Benedict, treasurer; S. C. Palmer, secre- 
tary. Directors: W. H. Benedict, James H. Knapp, 
Edwin Adams, Alden Solmans, S. C. Palmer. The 
company manufactures hat bodies and is one of South 
Norwalk's most important industries, giving employ- 
ment to a large number of men during the busy season. 

The leading and most flourishing concern engaged 
in the production of hats, and which has been for many 
3'ears past, is the Crofut & Knapp Company, v/ith an 
enormous factory of all the modern improvements and 
appliances of every kind located on the corner of Day 
and Tolles street. This firm is a corporation organ- 
ized imder the laws of the state of Connecticut, and 
has as its officers James H. Knapp, president; Philip 

374 



N. Knapp, vice president ; and William W. Lester, sec- 
retary and treasurer. The superintendent of this vast 
concern is John J. Cavanaugh. All of these gentlemen 
are extensive stockholders in the company. Besides 
having this factory, the company has a suite of offices 
at No. 840 Broadway, and the sales from this office and 
the office located at No. 44 Bedford street, Boston. 
Mass., are enormous. The capital stock of the corpor- 
ation is $100,000, divided into 1,000 shares of $100.00 
each, of which the sum of $25,000 is paid in capital in 
cash. 

The factory was organized as a copartnership about 
the year i860, with its building located on the corner of 
North Main and Union streets. The partners were A. 
J. Crofut and James H. Knapp. Business was carried 
on in this establishment until the year 1893, when it 
was decided to increase the manufacturing business. 
For that reason another tract of land was bought and 
a large factory was erected on the corner of Day and 
Tolles streets, and the firm continued to do business 
in both places, until they decided to form a joint stock 
corporation, and forthwith were organized under the 
laws of Connecticut, with a capital stock of $100,000. 
and a paid up capital of $25,000 cash money. The stock 
was divided into i.ooo shares of $100 each and was 
readily taken up. The new corporation began to boom 
things, and in a year and a half it was found that the 
two factories could not accommodate the necessary ap- 
pliances for the carrying on of the rapidly increasing 
business. A meeting was called and it was decided to 
procure more property adjoining the Day and Tolles 
streets property, which was accordingly done, and a 
building of the most improved and spacious kind was 
erected, into which the firm moved in 1896, and where 
it is at present installed and engaged in the manufac- 
ture of the finest and most extensive grade of hats chat 
is manufactured in the New England States to-day. 

The annual output of the factory is upward of 20,000 
dozens of hats, and three-quarters of this production 
is of the fine grade. The credit of the large increase is 
due entirely to the present officers, who have held the 
same office for some time, and whose energy and ap- 
plication of modern business methods have made the 
company what it is to-day. They are engaged in the 
making of every kind and form of hat. and also make a 
specialty of the coach and police hat of fine grade. They 
have supplied for a long time the New York police 

375 



force, the police of Boston, Lynn, and other large cities 
with helmets, and have received the highest of satisfa5"- 
tion, and are spoken of by many as being a fine type of 
workmanship. 

When the firm first started business there were just 
fifty men employed, and that number has gradually in- 
creased, until to-day the firm employs anywhere from 
350 to 400 men. Hatting in South Norwalk was 
brought to birth, a person might say, by the C. & K. 
Co., and was fostered as a child by them, until to-day it 
stands as one of the best and most improved hat manu- 
factories of the western part of Connecticut. 

The Volk Hat Company, corner of Raymond and 
Day streets, S. N., is a representative concern whose 
goods are widely known throughout the country. The 
business was established in 1875 by Francis A. Volk 
and Joseph A. Volk under the firm name of Francis A. 
Volk & Bro. In 1880, owing to the death of Francis 
A. Volk, the firm was reorganized, Joseph A. Volk as- 
sociating himself with Henry I. Smith and Christian 
Swartz, the firm being known as the Volk Hat Com- 
pany. The company was incorporated at this time, 
having as officers Christian Swartz, president; Joseph 
A. Volk, secretary and treasurer and general manager ; 
Henry I. Smith, superintendent. The present officers 
are as follows: Christian Swartz, president; Joseph A. 
Volk, secretary and treasurer; James H. Flynn, super- 
intendent. The excellent quality of hats manufactured 
has given the firm a very high reputation with the trade, 
owing largely to Mr. Volk's close attention to the 
business. 

Otto Barthol, manufacturer of Hats in the rough. 
Established Nov. 5, 1880, under the firm name of Hub- 
bell & Barthol. Partnership dissolved Nov. 5, 1890, the 
business being continued by Mr. Barthol until May, 
1 90 1, at which time the corporation Otto Barthol Co. 
was organized with a capital of $50,000. Otto Barthol, 
president; William Moran, vice president; Edward W. 
Beard, treasurer. The corporation's factory is one of 
the most complete in the country. It has a daily capac- 
ity of 100 dozens. Employees, 80. 

Universal Hat Company, corner of Clay street and 
Railroad avenue, S. N. Established originally in 1875 
by William A. Brown. Succeeded in 1888 by Univer- 
sal Hat Co. Manufacturers of stiff and soft hats. Em- 
ployees, 6. Weekly output, 24 dozen. 

Norwalk Hat Company, 50 Water street, S. N. 



876 



Originally established in 1887 as the South Norwalk 
Hat Co. Succeeded by the Norwalk Hat Co. in 1898. 
The members of the company are John J. Murohv j.nd 
E. H. Bush. They manufacture a fine grade of Stiff 
Hats, giving employment to 25 hands. 

William B. Hubbell, 22 Woodward avenue, S. N. 
Established November, 1891. Manufacturer of hats in 
the rough. Mr. Hubbell's factory is finely equipped 
and the 50 men employed receive liberal wages. The 
daily output is 75 dozen hats. 

Hoyt, Wolthausen & Co., Day street, S. N. Es- 
tablished in 1895 by H. W. Hoyt and F. Wolthausen. 
Partnership dissolved May i, 1902. Wolthausen Hat 
Co. formed. Incorporated May i, 1902. Capital stock, 
$25,000. L. R. Bouton, president; F. Wolthausen, 
secretary and treasurer. Manufacturers of hats In ihe 
rough. Employees, 75. Capacity, 100 dozen daily. 

Espenscheid Hat Co. Incorporated April 3, 1902, 
by Charles C. Settle and Edwin C. Godfrey. Manu- 
facturers of Trimmed Hats, soft, stiflF and flexible. 
Charles C. Settle, president ; Edwin C. Godfrey, secre- 
tary and treasurer. Capacity, 40 dozen daily. Em- 
ployees, 40, 

' A. A. Hodshon & Co., 53 Railroad Place, S. N. 
Established June i, 1898, by A. A. Hodshon, Frederick 
Pitzer and Frederick Barthol. Manufacturers of hats 
in the rough only. Dailv output, 24 dozen. Employees, 
18. 

J. C. Wilson & Co., manufacturers of fine fur hats, 
occupy a commodious factory on the corner of Cross 
and South Main streets, S. N. The first factory on 
this site was erected in 1885 by the Co-operative Hat 
Co., as the outcome of the great strike. The building 
burned and in its place was erected the present build- 
ing. J. C. Wilson took possession in 1886 and has 
since conducted his large business there, giving employ- 
ment to 150 hands. A fine grade of hats is manufac- 
tured and the business is rapidly increasing. 

WOOLEN GOODS. 

The Norwalk & Fairfield Worsted Co. is one of the 
substantial manufacturing concerns of the town and 
does a large business in the manufacture of woolen 
goods. In November, T901, the present company v\-as 
established and it was incorporated in March, 1902, 
with a capital stock of $50,000. The officers are E. M. 

877 



Andrews, president; E. H. Smith, treasurer; W. R. 
Adams, secretary. The large plant on Belden avenue 
and Cross street might be referred to as one of the 
town's landmarks owing to the many years it has been 
used for the manufacture of felt and woolen goods. 
The company gives employment to 125 men. 

WORKERS IN WOOD. 

H. W. Mathers, 131 Water street, S. N. Estab- 
Hshed in 1895. Manufacturer of Sash, Blinds and 
Trimmings. Mr. Mathers also does a general carpen- 
ter business, giving employment to 12 men. The out- 
put of his factory is about $1,000 monthly. 

Riverside Mills, Riverside avenue, E. N, Estab- 
lished in 1889 by M D. Randall. Succeeded by Nor- 
walk Building Co. in 1898. Succeeded by Leslie Gam- 
ble in 1900. Manufacturer of Sash, Blinds, Doors, 
Window Frames, Mouldings and Trimmings, and all 
kinds of turned work. Employees, 17. Weekly output 
about $2,000 completed work. 

Carman & Seymour, Riverside avenue, E. N. Es- 
tablished in 1899 by S. T. Carman and F. S. Seymour. 
Manufacturers of Mouldings and Wood Trimmings. 
Employees, 3. 

Hatch, Bailey & Co., corner of Water and Marshall 
streets. The business was originally carried on by Burr 
Knapp and Henry R. Fitch. They dissolved partnership 
in 1878 and the business was continued by Burr Knapp. 
He was succeeded by the present firm in 1881. The 
firm is composed of James S. Bailey, Edward F, Bailey 
and Stephen S. Hatch. Manufacturers of Doors, Sash, 
Blinds, Window Frames, Mouldings and all kinds of 
turned work. Employees, 15. 

A. R. Malkin & Co., 3-7 Mechanic street, N. Es- 
tablished in 1885 at 74 Franklin avenue. Have occu- 
pied the present commodious quarters since 1890. 
Manufacturers of Mantels, Office Fixtures and all kinds 
of wooden trimmings. Employees, 50. 

J. S. Morgan, 12 Steamboat Place, S. N. Estab- 
lished in 1890. Builder of Stairs. 

East Norwalk Lumber Co. Incorporated in 1896. 
Capital stock, $12,000. M. D. Randall, president and 
treasurer; Horace Hubbell, vice president; James Hall, 
secretary. Succeeded by Hubbell, Hall & Randall Co. 
in 1902. Capital stock, $49,000. 

378 



OYSTERS. 

An article appears elsewhere on the oyster industry 
which is one of the most important of Norwalk's en- 
terprises. Our oysters are known around the world for 
their superior quality. Among the prominent planters 
and shippers are William H. Hoyt & Son, the H. Row- 
land Co., the Northport Oyster Co., Richard J. Cutbill, 
James W. Hoyt, Martineau & Lawson, Addison H. 
Merrill, George H. Shaffer, Sharrott & Son, Ernest 
W. Tallmadge, George N. Warren, Charles W. Rcm- 
son, Theodore S. Lowndes, Elbert F. Lockwood, 
George W. Kinsley, S. J. & C. S. Byxbee, Isaac Ste- 
vens, Charles W. Bell, Edward Smith, John De Waters, 
George Stevens, John L'Hommedieu, John Planter, Jr., 
Albert Crockett, Hiram Taylor, Andrew Mills, Daniel 
Wicks, Hickson Cole. 




t79 



PRESIDENTIAL VOTE OF THE TOWN 
OF NORWALK FOR SIXTY YEARS 

The following figures represent the number of 
votes received for the electoral ticket pledged to 
support the candidates for President below mentioned. 
The figures of the highest electoral vote have been 
furnished by the Secretary of State of Connecticut. 

1840. William Henry Harrison Whig 426 

Martin Van Buren Democrat 119 

1844. Henry Clay Whig 471 

James K. Polk Democrat 256 

1848. Zachary Taylor Whig 482 

Lewis Cass Democrat 182 

1852. Winfield Scott Whig 489 

Franklin Pierce Democrat 342 

1856. John C. Fremont Republican 570 

James Buchanan Democrat 375 

Millard Fillmore Native American. loi 

i860. Abraham Lincoln Republican 746 

Stephen A. Douglas Democrat 244 

John Cabell Breckenridge Democrat 144 

John Bell Native American . 89 

1864. Abraham Lincoln Republican 818 

George B. McClellan Democrat 610 

1868. U.S.Grant Republican 1117 

Horatio Seymour Democrat 751 

1872. U. S. Grant Republican 1122 

Horace Greeley Democrat 972 

1876. R. B. Hayes Republican 1358 

Samuel J. Tilden Democrat 1245 

1880. James A. Garfield Republican 1586 

Winfield Scott Hancock Democrat 1271 

1884. James G. Blaine Republican 1351 

Grover Cleveland Democrat 1560 

i883. Benjamin Harrison Republican 1591 

Grover Cleveland Democrat 1940 

1892. Benjamin Harrison Republican 1974 

Grover Cleveland Democrat 2101 

1896. William McKinley Republican 2299 

William J. Bryan Democrat 1129 

1890. William McKinley Republican 2525 

William J. Bryan Democrat 1551 




CITY OF SOUTH NORWALK 

Joseph R. Taylor. 

JouTH NoRWALK, formerly called "Old 
Well," was organized a city Auj^-ust 

1 8, 1870, under a charter granted by 
the Legislature of Connecticut, July 
5th of the same year. This charter 
was revised b}^ the Legislature April 

19, 1882, and the city continued its 
existence under this revised charter 

until May 27, 1897, when the Legislature approved a 
revised and amended charter, under which the city has 
since continued and worked. 

The city is beautifully located on the shore of 
Long Island Sound, and has direct communication 
with New York City by rail and water. These means 
of communication with the commercial metropolis of 
the country have been of great advantage in the 
encouragement and development of the manufacturing 
interests of the city. The result has naturally been 
that the city has become the manufacturing part of 
the town of Norwalk, and within its borders are 
located manufactories that supply their trade world- 
wide. 

The population of the city at the time of its 
organization was about 2,200. Its population in 1900 
was 6,591; a steady and healthful growth, proportion- 
ately far greater during the later years of the city's life 
than the earlier. 

The city has 17 miles of streets. Many of the 
streets are macadamized and others are paved with 
brick and Belgian block. 

The executive functions of the city are vested in 
a Mayor, and its Legislative in a Council of six mem- 
bers, all elected annually. The expenditures made by 
the Council are appropriated by city meeting, and no 
special expenditure exceeding one thousand dollars 
can be made by the Council until approved at a city 
meeting. 

In recent years the labors of the Council have 
been considerably lightened by the establishment of 
commissions in several of the departments, all but one 
of which (the Board of Water Commissioners) have 

381 



been established by, and work under the direction of, 
the Council. 

The city has for years owned its water system, 
and has been constantly and wisely adding thereto. 
This system is managed and conducted by a board of 
three commissioners, one of which is elected annually 
for the term of three years. 

The Fire Department of the city is voluntary, and 
consists of one hook and ladder company and one hose 
company, comprising together upwards of 150 active 
members. The service has been of the best, as the 
comparative freedom from fire loss throughout the 
city will attest. The high order of excellence of fire 
service has ever been maintained with very small 
expense to the city. 

The executives of the city, since its organization, 
have been as follow: 

Dudley P. Ely, 1870, 1871 and 1872; Walter C. 
Quintard, 1873, 1874 and 1875; Dudley P. Ely, 1876 
and 1877; Winfield S. Hanford, 1878; Walter C. 
Quintard, 1879; Christian Swartz, 1880; Edwin Adams, 
Christian Swartz, 1882; Peter L. Cunningham, 
Richard H. Golden, 1884; Nelson Taylor, Jr., 
John L. Richards, 1886; William B. Hubbell, 
1887 and 1888; Frank Com stock, 1889; Edwin Wilcox, 
1890; William B. Reed, 1891 and 1892; George Lock- 
wood, 1893; Mortimer M. Lee, 1894, 1895 and 1896; 
Charles G. Bohannan, 1897 and 1898; J. Milton 
Coburn, 1899; Charles G. Bohannan, 1900; Mortimer 
M. Lee, 1901 and 1902. 

The clerk of the city is ex-ofScio clerk of the 
Council. A remarkable fact in connection with this 
office is that every incumbent since the city's incorpor- 
ation is now living. 

The clerks of the city, since its organization, have 
been as follow: 

Walter T. Buckingham, 1870, 1871; Edwin Wilcox, 
1872, 1873; John W. Craw, 1874, 1875; John W. Craw 
and Edwin Wilcox, 1876; Edwin Wilcox, 1877, 1878, 
1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886 and 
1887; Robert M. Wilcox, 1888; Edmund E. Crowe, 
1889, 1890; Robert M. Wilcox, 1891, 1892 and 1893; 
Edmund E. Crowe and Joseph R. Taylor, 1894; Joseph 
R. Taylor, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901 
and 1902. 

Doubtless the institution of which the citizens are 
most proud is the municipal electric light plant, owned 



and operated by the city. It was the first plant of its 
kind to be constructed within the state of Connecticut, 
and one of the early ones in the United States. 

The city's original plant for street lighting, now 
a part of the enlarged electrical system for both public 
and commercial service, was authorized to be establish- 
ed after several meetings had been held in 1891-92 to 
consider the subject of a municipal plant, with the 
result that a favorable vote of the citizens was cast and 
$22,500 appropriated for the construction of such a 
plant. The plant was constructed under the direction 
of a committee composed of Joseph A. Volk, .'appoint- 
ed by city meeting, Gen'l Nelson Taylor and Edwin 
Adams, appointed by the Common Council. Albert 
E. Winchester was selected as consulting engineer to 
design and supervise the work. A part of the "Old 
Nursery" property located on the south side of State 
Street, adjoining the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R., was 
purchased as a site for the station building Ground 
was broken in the spring of 1892 and on the evening 
of October 13th, of the same year, the new lighting 
system was regularly started. 

The original installation consisted of the middle 
section of the present building, (which is now nearly 
double its original size) an iron smoke stack, one 
horizontal tubular boiler, an engine, feed water heater, 
pump, injector, all necessary piping, two 60 light arc 
dynamos, switch-board, all necessary electrical ap- 
pliances, tools, office fixtures, and a pole line system, 
supplying 86 arc lamps, all of which are in regular 
service at the present, except the iron smoke stack, 
which was replaced by the large brick chimney, made 
necessary by the addition of the commercial system. 

After the public lighting system had been in 
operation for several years, a petition headed by Isaac 
S. Jennings, one of the original promoters of the 
plant, was submitted to the Common Council, re- 
questing the appointment of a committee to investi- 
gate and report on the advisability of enlarging the 
plant for the purpose of supplying commercial electric 
lighting. In compliance with the petition the Com- 
mon Council appointed the following committee: 
Councilmen Stephen S. Hatch, Frank N. Ferris, Oliver 
E. Weed, City Attorney John H. Light and Electrical 
Commissioners Joseph A. Volk, Col. Leslie Smith and 
Albert E. Winchester. Nearly two years were devo- 
ted to a most careful investigation of the subject, 

383 



covering municipal and other electric light plants in 
all parts of the United States and a favorable report 
was submitted to the Common Council that was unan- 
imously adopted. It was also commented upon by- 
leading electrical journals as being a reliable and un- 
biased authority of the times upon the subject of mu- 
nicipal ownership of electric light plants. The matter 
was then brought before a city meeting held October 
26, 1897, and a favorable vote was cast authorizing the 
construction of a commercial addition to the existing 
system under the direction of the Board of Electrical 
Commissioners, Joseph A. Volk, Col. Leslie Smith and 
Albert E. Winchester, and appropriating the sum of 
$20,000 called for in the report to cover the cost of 
construction. Work was immediately started. Mr. 
Winchester being again selected by his brother com- 
inissioners to design and supervise the construction of 
the new system, and commercial lighting was supplied 
for the first time on the evening of August i, 1898, 
The system was run under test until the 13th of the 
following October, when it took its place as part of the 
city's enlarged electrical service, at which time the 
combined plant was placed upon a practical commer- 
cial basis. A fixed rate being established for street 
arc lamps as well as for all other out-put, thus ena- 
bling the plant, under favorable circumstances, to pay 
its expenses from its own legitimate income similar to 
a private corporation. This being, as far as known, 
the first municipal electric light plant to operate upon 
a practical business standard, under which municipal 
ownership must be successful. 

The commercial branch had not been in operation 
a year before the demand for electric lighting became 
so great that the plant was taxed to its full capacity. 
It became at once apparent that the commercial branch 
would have to be speedily enlarged and Commissioner 
Winchester was once more selected by the other mem- 
bers of the Board, Commissioners Volk and Smith, to 
design an enlargement of the commercial branch, 
doubling its capacity and obtain estimates on the cost 
of same. In the early part of May, 1900, a report was 
submitted to the Common Council recommending the 
enlargement at a cost of ^17,500. The Common 
Council gave unanimous approval and called a citizens' 
meeting on the evening of May 15, 1900, to take final 
action. The city meeting unanimously appropriated 
$17,500 and authorized the Electrical Commissioners 

?84 



to proceed with the contemplated enlargement, which 
was started without further delay. The enlargement 
was built, placed in operation and is now heavily taxed 
to meet the demand for lighting and power that con- 
tinues unabated. The day power system for motor 
service which had for several years been operated for 
the city by the former Norwalk Tramway Co. was 
bought outright on June 29, 1901, by the Electrical 
Commissioners from the Connecticut Railway Sc 
Lighting Co. It was immediately connected with the 
station by an independent feeder and the distributing 
mains were replaced with larger ones extending over 
a much greater area. 

By the end of the year 1901 so great had become 
the demands upon the plant, that early in 1902 the 
Board of Electrical Commissioners submitted to the 
Council a request for a special city meeting, to consid- 
er appropriating an additional $15,000.00 to enlarge 
the plant and to purchase equipment therefor. At a 
special city meeting, held October 28, 1902, the citi- 
zens voted an appropriation of $15,000. to enlarge 
the plant, and also voted to establish the meter system 
to measure electricity furnished for commercial light- 
ing, appropriating $5,000. for this latter purpose. 
The Commissioners are taking the necessary steps to 
carry out the purposes of these two appropriations. 

The station is a substantial brick structiire practi- 
cally fire-proof, with slate roof on which are two cu- 
polas. The building proper is one and a half stories 
high, of rectangular form, 48 feet wide by 109 feet 
long with a coal house extension on the east of 100 
tons storage capacity, opening into the fire room. On 
the west side are located a battery room containing the 
city's fire alarm batteries, a repair room, a test room 
and a stock room. 

The interior of the main building is divided by a 
fire wall into an engine room and boiler room. The 
boiler room contains a battery of four 125 horse-power 
horizontal tubular boilers, a feed water heater, an in- 
jector, a fire hose, coal weighing scales, an iron smoke 
flue from the boilers to the 500 horse-power brick 
chimney. Above the roof is a large steam whistle for 
fire and other calls. The chimney is a massive struc- 
ture, 91 feet high, built up from a natural bed rock 
foundation, and is provided with an iron ladder, sec- 
tional cast iron cap and copper lightning rod. In the 
base of the chimney is a fire-proof safe deposit vault 

385 



for city records. The engine room which is connected 
with the boiler room by a large sliding- door, contains 
a loo horse-power "Ideal "high speed engine belted 
direct to two 60 light "Western Electric" arc dynamos, 
four 100 horse-power "Watertown" high speed en- 
gines each connected direct to a 60 K. W. compound 
220 volt multipolar dynamo, two of the dynamos are 
of the Siemens & Halske and two of the Eddy types, 
a large fully equipped marbleized slate switch-board 
on which are mounted all controlling devices for both 
the high tension arc, and the low tension commercial 
lighting and power circuits. The remaining equip- 
ment is composed of a fire alarm switch-board with a 
gong, a telephone, damper regulator, an additional 
200 horse-power feed water heater, two steam feed 
water pumps, etc. The steam piping is covered with 
"Nonpareil" cork covering neatly painted. At the 
front end of this room is a gallery, under which are 
the main entrance, general office, private office and 
dressing room; the offices communicate with each 
other and the engine room and are provided with a 
long distance telephone, desks, chairs, safe, etc., the 
dressing room contains individual clothes lockers, sink 
and toilet. Convenient to the main entrance is located 
a fire alarm box. 

Both engine and boiler rooms have large double 
outside doors through which the largest machinery 
may be handled. The boiler room floor is composed 
of bricks laid on edge in cement, except in front of the 
boilers where blue stone flagging is laid. The other 
rooms have concrete floors. All doors opening through 
brick partitions are fire-proof. Fifteen electrical 
circuits radiate from the station throughout the city, 
two are high tension mains supplying all arc lamps in 
the streets ; four are low tension feeders, one for the 
day light and power system and one double and two 
single for commercial lighting connected to centers of 
distribution of the "crib" system of commercial mains, 
three are pressure wires, from outside feeder ends, one 
is a service from the mains to light the station and 
the remaining four are circuits of the fire alarm 
system connected with all fire alarm boxes, bells, etc. , 
of the fire department. 

The executive staff consists of a non-partisan 
board of three Electrical Commissioners appointed by 
the Common Council, each for the term of three years, 
one commissioner being appointed annually. As com- 



missioners, the members of the board draw no salaries, 
but they have the power to make appointments from 
their own members, to any position on the salaried 
list of the operating staff. Their titles are President, 
Secretary and Treasurer and General Superintendent. 
It is their duty to have charge of the operation and 
maintenance of the city's electric light, fire alarm sys- 
tem and other electrical details of the city. 

The operating staff is composed of the above 
General Superintendent, two Engineers, two Linemen 
one Trimmer and two Firemen, who are appointed by 
the Commissioners on the qualifications of merit 
only. 




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